2015 McDonald's Flavor Battle Culminates at Global Spin Awards with $10,000 Grand Prize

DJ Rhetorik of New York named Flavor Battle champion by panel of celebrity judges

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Nov 16, 2015, 08:04 ET

Flavor Battle host and legendary DJ Clark Kent stands alongside the 2015 Flavor Battle winner, DJ Rhetorik of NewYork. at the finale at Orbit Nightclub during Global Spin Awards weekend. The sixth annual McDonald's Flavor Battle, a national online DJ competition, showcases some of America's hottest up-and-coming mix-masters. The competition began with 12 DJs representing three regions across the country (Pictured left to right: radio host, Angela Yee, Sprite Senior Customer Marketing Manager, Chrystal Reynolds, DJ Clark Kent, DJ Rhetorik, CEO of Powermoves Marketing & Promotions, Shawn Prez and McDonald's U.S. Marketing Director, William Rhodes.

OAK BROOK, Ill., Nov. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, music industry elite came out to celebrate DJ Rhetorik, as he took home the $10,000 cash prize from the 2015 McDonald's® Flavor Battle DJ Competition. The New York native put forth his best skills to beat out DJ Soundwave of Los Angeles and DJ Lani Love of Chicago at Orbit Nightclub during Global Spin Awards weekend in New York City.

Legendary DJ and producer, Clark Kent, served as this year's Flavor Battle finale host while celebrity judges DJ Skribble, DJ Shiftee, DJ Jazzy Joyce and the 2014 Flavor Battle champion, DJ R-Tistic evaluated each of the finalists' mixing styles, performance appeal and technique to determine who would be worthy of the grand title. Radio host and entertainment personality, Angela Yee, served as the social media correspondent providing live updates on each of the performance sets.

"Winning this year's McDonald's Flavor Battle competition is a huge accomplishment for me," said DJ Rhetorik. "Honestly, all of the DJs were great, and I'm extremely humbled to even be considered for the opportunity."

In its sixth year, the competition brought out some of the biggest up-and-coming DJs in the industry with 12 DJs hand-picked by McDonald's and Complex Media vying for the chance to win the grand prize. Over the course of three weeks, three DJs – one from the West Coast, East Coast and Midwest regions – won over the stylistic preferences of online voters and fans of the art form with creative mixes that helped them advance through three rounds of voting on flavorbattle.com. Spinning on the 1s and 2s, the final three competed, putting forth their best craveable flavor, and were extremely active on social media encouraging their networks to participate in the voting process using the hashtag #365FlavorBattle.

"The excitement surrounding the 2015 McDonald's Flavor Battle competition was solid and engaging," said William Rhodes, McDonald's U.S. marketing director. "Cognizant of hip-hop resonating deeply among our Millennial audience, McDonald's celebrates this art form and recognizes the importance of such a program. We are proud to offer the Flavor Battle as a platform for rising DJs to showcase their skills on a national stage."

In conjunction with lifestyle network Complex Media, McDonald's Flavor Battle launched in 2009 as an extension of the company's 365Black initiative. McDonald's 365Black platform was created to celebrate the pride, heritage and achievements of African-Americans year round. Be sure to follow @365Black on Twitter and follow the conversation using the hashtag #365FlavorBattle.

About McDonald's
McDonald's USA, LLC, serves a variety of menu options made with quality ingredients to more than 27 million customers every day. Nearly 90 percent of McDonald's 14,000 U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated by businessmen and women. Customers can now log online for free at approximately 11,500 participating Wi-Fi enabled McDonald's U.S. restaurants. For more information, visit http://www.mcdonalds.com, or follow us on Twitter @365Black and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/mcdonalds. To learn more about the 365Black initiative, visit http://www.365Black.com.

About Complex Media
Complex Media is the leading provider of style, entertainment, lifestyle and product content dedicated to young male tastemakers. The company launched in 2002 with Complex magazine, a men's style guide and lifestyle publication with a current circulation of 345,000. Complex Media expanded to include flagship web site Complex.com (http://www.complex.com), which attracts more than 2.2 million unique monthly visitors; as well as the Complex Media Network (http://www.complexmedianetwork.com), a network of 70+, 100% exclusive Web sites targeting men 18-34 which generates more than 420 million page views and attracts 37 million unique visitors per month.

About Global Spin Awards
The GLOBAL SPIN AWARDS has been established to honor DJs from across the globe for their contribution to the music and entertainment industries. The GSAs have been classified as the Gold Standard of DJ Recognition by music industry heavy weights. Actors have the Academy Awards, Musicians have the Grammy and Now DJs have the GSAs.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151116/287526

SOURCE McDonald's USA