Ellen Surprised a Dorchester DJ and Youth Volunteer with a New Car

Dorchester’s own Mike Boston got the surprise of his life this week when TV’s Ellen Degeneres showed up at his South Boston office and gave him a brand-new car.

The ambush, a video of which was posted on the Ellen website, happened at his workplace in the Seaport, where he was greeted by a camera crew and a woman named Jeannie, who was dressed up in a blue dress and huge blonde wig. She proceeded to ask him Boston-specific trivia questions, then reward him a brand-new SUV and $10,000.

Boston is a DJ who works at local ad agency and operates a mobile studio called Mobile Stü out of his pickup truck. The recording equipment, which young people can use for free, “empowers kids to make their voices heard anytime, anywhere, on hip-hop tracks of their own creation,” he says on his website. He says in a video that he hopes his work with kids can help them “express what they’re going through, even some of the negative situations, in a positive way. In a safe way.”

One of Boston’s projects, which caught the attention of ABC affiliate WCVB, was a song called “One Beat for Peace,” a rap collaboration between Dorchester youth and the Boston Police Department. The track can be purchased on iTunes, and proceeds support the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club.

In order to win the car during the Ellen segment, which is called “Cash at Your Car” and is sponsored by Chevrolet, Boston had to answer a few trivia questions about Boston, including the site of the Boston Tea Party and which Hollywood star uttered the words “how do you like them apples” in Good Will Hunting. When they broke the news to him that he would get to take his new SUV home, he got visibly emotional, falling to his knees.

Speaking to him in front of her national audience, Degeneres thanked Boston for the work he does with kids.

“I just want to say Mike that I know a little bit about your story and you’ve made it out of a very tough situation, and you’re working really hard and giving back to the community, and that’s why you’re here with us today,” she says in the clip, adding, “You’re a good guy.”