Any glance across the landscape of the city of Flint at any given time shows that there’s no shortage of talent in everything from sports to music to fashion to business and entrepreneurship and beyond. Christopher Dale Wilson Jr., better known as Cris Da Boss, constantly saw that ecosystem and, beginning last year, wanted to showcase it on a large scale. That’s how the annual M2Dsports Flintustry Boss Stars Basketball Showcase was born in 2025.
“It’s inspired by the NBA All-Star weekend,” Wilson said. “I wanted to create our own all-star vibes here in the city of Flint.”
The showcase returned for its second year onMarch 21, at New Standard Academy. It featured an array of entertainment aimed at bringing people of all ages in the city together. The event included basketball games for boys and girls in divisions for ages 9-11, 12-14, and 15-18, a “celebrity” game featuring local entrepreneurs, entertainers, and community figures, and a main event with more experienced, competitive players. The basketball games were supplemented by several activities, including a skills challenge, 3-point contest, live music and performances, and much more during a festival-like atmosphere.
“I always wanted to attend the All-Star game or the All-Star Weekend,” Wilson said. “That’s the main time you’ll see some of everybody within the main industries show up and all be together for a mutual time of fun entertainment through sports. You see actors, people in the fashion world, musicians, business owners, some of everybody. Here in the city of Flint, we have a lot of that going on. We have a bunch of entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, people in law enforcement, fire department, everybody making some type of positive impact here. We can bring them all together here within our Flintustry and create those all star vibes here.”
Wilson teamed up with Clavontae Brown and Talent Over Politics to put the event together. Brown played high school basketball at Flint Northern before playing collegiately and professionally. Now, he’s a trainer and coach who works with young athletes in the Flint area to help them reach their dreams.
“Me and Cris actually kind of grew up together,” Brown said. “He’s a little older, but we grew up together. So that’s kind of like my main thing, just helping out and anything pretty much that I can do to be involved with the kids and the community, I’m all for it.”
Wilson was friends with Brown’s older cousin, and he remembers Brown being younger and continuously working hard to get better and better at basketball.
“When he was 8 or 9 years old, he used to try his hardest every day and he had trained and challenged me and his older cousin, who were the same age, and was always like, ‘I’m better than you guys!’” Wilson said. “We’d say ‘Oh, you’ll never get better than us, man. Like, keep trying though.’ And then like, fast forward, he’s light years better than us. He was constantly training to be better than everybody in the neighborhood.”
Brown, who also plays in the JaVale McGee Flint City Pro-Am each summer, will be among the players participating in the competitive ‘main event’ game. In addition to enjoying his work as a trainer, Brown also likes being able to still get on the court and compete.
“It means a lot (to be out there),” Brown said. “I got my nephew, he’s looking up to me, so that’s one of my biggest inspirations right now. Just keep going for him, man. So he can see it firsthand versus me just telling him.”
Wilson’s passion for the event stems from his own passion for sports, particularly basketball. Due to physical conditions with his spine, he had to give up competing in sports when he was younger. But this showcase, which he hopes to continue growing each year, gives him another path to stay involved and help other kids chase their sports dreams.
“The more we can create in a positive environment for the youth, the more we can help guide them to a better future,” Wilson said. “It’s so easy to be distracted and become a product of your environment and get off into a bunch of negative stuff that leads you nowhere. I want to keep creating environments for kids to go out and have fun and look forward to and be inspired.”
Wilson grew up primarily on the northside of Flint and currently lives in the First Ward. He’s been involved in a wide range of initiatives to support young people in the city, including serving as a gym instructor at a vacation Bible school and serving as a member of a Flint stop the violence organizing committee. He’s also a hip hop vocalist, he does spoken word poetry, and he runs the Much 2 Discuss media outlet, which includes podcasts, interviews, and event coverage on Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms. He’s also provided event coverage for the 810 Fashion Show, including their participation in New York and Atlanta fashion week events.
Those connections helped him load up the event with an impressive group of Flint talent. The event will be hosted by The Alpha Drew, with musical performances by DJ Chef Nate, Taylor Tatum, Cainaen McGhee, Shira Eyonna, Ziya Lanai, Marjai Marketa, and more.
“We got so much skill and talent here,” Wilson said. “To see so many people joining together for a mutual cause is, it’s a beautiful thing. Instead of complaining about what the city doesn’t have and what’s always happening within the city, I want to be a part of that change and lead by example. We can create some vibes here that people can enjoy.”
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