LinkedIn Park is the creative brainchild of actor, comedian, and producer Lisa Beasley and yep, it's a fusion of Linkin Park and LinkedIn.
#blkcreatives: What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of your group, LinkedIn Park?
Lisa: It’s a tie between two thoughts. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of LinkedIn Park is my audacity to commit to the idea that there are six Lisa Beasley’s and they all make up the band LinkedIn Park. I love the detail that is – every single Lisa Beasley is imitating one of the members of Linkin Park.
The other reigning thought that comes up is how much I really hate work bwahahahaha. The current status of American work culture? Keep it. They can have it Lolol.
#blkcreatives: In what ways did this project help you lean into your creative freedom?
Lisa: Vocally – I don’t get hired to sing rock or alternative music. I’ve always dreamed of being in a “Rent-esq” type musical so I can sing like how I did in the parody “Dumb.”
I’m primarily brought on to projects as a comedian, writer, creative director or producer. There was a time where work was 100% singing. And when it was I was SANGING. Riffing, running, Whitney, sanging. Tons of vibrato. It was a fun challenge to channel Chester’s straight tone when holding long notes without adding vibrato. There is creative freedom in me exercising my liberty to sing how I want for the sake of the bit. I’m excited for people to hear other types of genres my voice can do.
It also felt freeing to decide to do a creative thing, link with friends and record it and shoot it. There was no permission needed. Especially after I made sure it the idea was doable and protected under Parody Law.
What were the top three factors that helped you see this project through to completion?
Finishing anything as a Black creative is a huge feat and I wouldn’t have done it without:
1) Setting strong visuals. I used photos from a photoshoot with Elias Rios. They took so many great pictures of me, that even though that photoshoot wasn’t specifically for LinkedIn Park, I had enough photos to debut new images of myself just for this. Elias captured the energy that I wanted to convert. Then I asked August Shapiro to design the Dumb logo and LinkedIn Park logo. After sending him the original reference photos, he quickly turned around the logos. As a graphic designer, it was important for me to delegate this because I knew it would have taken me longer than it took August. I also wanted to include my friends in the project and not do everything.
2.) My friend Jordan (@dxtr_spits) set me up a place to record the song and the audio engineer was really good at bringing outta me what I wanted to hear. He even paused to warm me up really quick cause he could tell I needed it. Because I had the song memorized I was able to lay everything down quickly and had a couple of extra top harmonies I wanted to hear.
3.) Chan and Melissa: I was straight up like, “Chan, I wanna be six people in one video,” and she was like “Bet let’s go.” Firstly, Chan is a beast and I was blessed that she even had time. With Melissa on board for the shoot and rollout, I just felt extremely supported. It’s so precious to me that to other Black women supported such a silly idea.
Overall, it’s very easy for a comedian to share an idea with the wrong people. I’ve shared this with some people before and they’ll laugh it off or make it seem like a waste of time or tell me what I SHOULD be doing more of. So the answer to the three things would be friendship, friendship and friendship.
Watch the lyric video for LinkedIn Park’s Dumb below!
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