Brandon Yee, a Bay Area Native, creates vibrant portraits that pay homage to this generation’s most influential hip-hop MCs. His creative process begins by altering a photo in photoshop then projecting it onto canvas where he throws down flat colors with acrylic paint pens. Deviating away from your traditional paint brush, paint pens allow him to produce controlled strokes with his palette consisting of bright, contrasting hues against neutral flesh tones.

He fell in love with hip-hop at a young age when 50 Cent, Eminem and Jay-Z dominated the genre. Today, he finds a deep appreciation for MC’s who have a positive impact on society. These MCs use hip-hop as a platform to speak on social issues like mental health and racial injustice and inequality. Brandon is inspired by how these artists unify their audience through music, connecting local communities dealing with the effects of these issues. These reasons lead him to believe hip-hop is music’s greatest genre. Brandon has created tribute pieces of new generation artists including J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar.

Brandon is one of 50 artists featured at the Oakland Art Library where members can borrow artwork from a gallery to take home. He creates custom portraits and offers limited edition prints in his Etsy shop.