Singer Bryan-Michael Cox, a DJ in the McDonald’s Flavor Battle, talked to ro about working with the corporate giant and what DJs brings to the music industry.
Why has the DJ’s role continued to grow?
The DJ is the whole foundation of the process of breaking records. The DJ is probably one of the most critical pieces in this puzzle of the artist blowing up. You make music, but you’ve got to get somebody to play the music. Get somebody to like the music and get it to the masses — and the DJ is just that. The DJ has always been a vital instrument in what I do, [and in] what we do as far as this music business goes. I’m a songwriter by trade. DJing is more of a recreational thing for me.
Talk about the project you’re working on with McDonald’s.
It’s fun, man. The project’s fun. It’s alway good to do something good in the neighborhood, for the neighborhood and for our culture. It’s been a blast!
What’s it like going through the process of creating and putting something out?
What you put out is a direct reflection of what you put in. You put in garbage; you’re going to make garbage. You put in good stuff; you’re going to make good stuff, so … many people inspire me. The process starts there, it starts with inspiration.
–stanley yorker
