Hebru Brantley talks to Jalen Rose about using his art to spread his messages, feelings

I first heard of artist Hebru Brantley, this week’s “Renaissance Man” guest through one of his sneaker collaborations. (If you haven’t seen his dope 2019 Adidas collab, check it out.)

But his work is collected by boldface folks such as George Lucas, Lenny Kravitz and LeBron James. In 2012 at Art Basel, Jay-Z dropped a cool $20,000 on one of his paintings. He has had exhibits all over the globe including Asia and South America. But he is a true Chicago guy hailing from the Bronzeville neighborhood, who got his start as a graffiti artist tagging his hometown. So that’s where I wanted to start: his roots. He said his art is about creating narratives using characters informed by his childhood in the Windy City, where inspiration seemed to blow into his life at an early age, courtesy of his surroundings, basketball and his cousins.