When Flau’jae Johnson helped lead the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team to a national championship last April in her first season on the team, she rose to the top of the sport. The win, the school’s first title, also launched her as a hip-hop artist, building a career that found her collaborating with rap members.
At least twice in the past year, Johnson has staged rap shows within 24 hours of a game or practice, on one occasion opening for top rapper and singer Rod Wave in Atlanta after traveling from Louisiana on a day off from the field. He walked off stage for body cramps after another show in November. she had scored 17 points in a game hours before her appearance.
“I know that’s what I’m supposed to do,” said Johnson, 20, a sophomore guard who averages 14.2 points per game and has more than 62,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. “If you want to be a legend at something, you have to do something that no one has done before and execute it at a high level.”
Johnson’s two careers have been thrown into overdrive this past year, and she’s balancing both as LSU prepares to defend its NCAA Tournament title, starting with first-round play on Friday. That same day, Johnson released “AMF (Ain’t My Fault),” her new song with rapper NLE Choppa, who last year asked her and LSU teammate Angel Reese to appear in the video for the single of “Champions”. they made cameos alongside other top athletes, including boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Mike Tyson. Johnson then asked NLE Choppa to collaborate on “AMF,” which premiered on Snapchat through a partnership with the multimedia messaging app.
“It redefines and demonstrates the renaissance and revolution that is possible in women’s sports,” said Ketra Armstrong, a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan. “It shows not only how you do it, but how you do it masterfully without compromising one for the other.”
Kia Brooks, Johnson’s mother and business manager, estimated that the hooper-rapper earned nearly $3 million from endorsement deals involving her name, image and likeness, including partnerships with audio equipment maker JBL and the brand of Powerade sports drinks. Johnson also has a distribution deal with Roc Nation and is directing a music video for an upcoming song with Lil Wayne, who became a fan during the 2023 basketball tournament. Since late last year, camera crews have followed Johnson for an Amazon Prime Video documentary that will profile her and other LSU star athletes.
Johnson began rapping at the age of 7 – about a year after taking up basketball – inspired in part by her father. Jason Johnson, a rapper known as Camoflauge, was fatally shot in 2003 in Savannah, Ga., just months before Johnson was born, but said he feels his presence every day. Her first name (pronounced FLAW-zhay) comes from his stage name, Brooks said, and Johnson often references it in her songs. He performed a song about gun violence when he competed on America’s Got Talent at 14. In an introspective freestyle over the beat of the Fugees’ “Ready or Not,” Johnson raps, “They killed my dad while my mom was pregnant, how am I supposed to feel?’
“He’s definitely my No. 1 inspiration,” Johnson said. “I take all my credit from him.”
When she was in high school, she posted her music on YouTube, building an audience that grew along with fan interest in her plans as a top recruit: She publicly announced her commitment to LSU in a video that also promoted the release of a new song.
Her two-bedroom off-campus apartment doubles as a recording studio with speakers, a microphone and monitors. Her jerseys hang on the walls and the home studio is also home to her league and lizard. She often composes lyrics during flights to away games and records in her spare time. Fans at her shows will hold up four fingers as she performs – a reference to her jersey number.
“I’ve been rapping and playing basketball my whole life,” Johnson said. “Now that they see me in different scenes, they always ask me, ‘How do you do it?’ But it’s like I did. I come in the summer, play basketball during basketball season, and then go about my day.”
Now, however, the victory lap for last year’s title is over. And just as she faces challengers on the field, Johnson has seen social media commentators try to discredit her rapping skills. “Go to the gym,” he said. But he said those jabs only serve to motivate.
“You can be talented at a lot of things, and I don’t think people are used to seeing that,” he said.
