John Borders IV with Dj Pup Dawg - A new chapter for Boston's Black history

John Borders IV, a Morehouse College alumnus, joins DJ Pup Dawg on the podcast to discuss the historic ESSENCE® HBCU Classic coming to Boston. He talks about the event's significance in celebrating Black culture, education, and community, and how it's shaping a new chapter for the city.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gamin ninety four or five borders. The fourth is on
right now, big guy in Boston, and Yo, bro, we
got something huge happening in Boston this weekend, man.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Agor happening major brother Pup first and foremost, huge, shout
out to you. You've been holding down the city forever. Man.
A lot of love respect for you, So cheers to
you first and foremost, Brother.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
I appreciate that man. Talk about this Essence HBCU Classics.
How long you and been working on this to make
this happen here, because I know he's been talking to
me about it for years.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah. Man, this has come together over the past year.
We've had a lot of different partners at the table,
a lot of people who have really fought to make
this happen. Shout out to Essence, Shout out to cash App,
Shout out to Meet Boston, Shout out to the City
of Boston, and so many other partners man who really
roll their sleeves up to try to bring this thing
to life. So we're excited. Shout out to Campus Rise.
There are a lot of different people who have worked

(00:46):
on this to get more House College and Johnson C.
Smith to play at Harvard for the first time in
fifty five years. It's going to be the first time
in almost fifty five years that there's been two HBCUs
play at Harvard Stadium here in Boston. So it's gonna
feel like home come man, It's gonna feel like an
HBCU homecoming this weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Brother, I love it, man, Classic writes the next chapter.
Can you elaborate on that real quick? What's that going
to mean for us out here in Boston?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Brother, It's a great question for so many people. We
get the opportunity to rewrite the narrative about Boston. People
think there aren't black people in Boston. People think there
aren't people who are taking up space, people of color.
Boston identifies as the majority of minority city. There are
so many people here doing great things, creating culture, creating community,
and Boston is a beautiful place. Boston is not even
the same place it was ten years ago. So when

(01:28):
you have the opportunity to bring people to Boston, there's
a sense of pride, there's a sense of power, there's
a sense of love that we have in our city,
and we get to share that one to another, and
then get to share that with so many different people
who are visiting from out of town. Yo.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
I tell that to everybody all the time. So I'm
glad you guys are doing this. Man is going down
this weekend, Labor Day weekend, The Essence HBCU Classics. What's
this going to mean for Boston after this weekend is done,
We're going to maintain it.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Man. This is the source of many celebrating new additions,
as a new addition after some years getting a street
renamed after him. All six are gonna be in town,
you know, So that's gonna be huge. We're gonna be
on Rocksberry first thing in the morning, and then after
that they have a community block party, and then we're
moving over to Brighton at Harvard Stadium, where we're gonna
have you know, over ten thousand people packing out the place.

(02:14):
Probably even more than that. Man. We're gonna be tailgating
starting at one. Terrence Jay and Free are gonna be
over there. Some live performances. You're gonna have Greek organizations.
There's gonna be a step show, slash stroll off. We're
gonna be giving away some prizes there.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
It is, Man, go get those tickets right now. Essencekickoff
dot Com. John I appreciate you taking the time and
jumping on there with us.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, I appreciate you. We'll be in touch. Thanks again,