Drake once said, “Sports and music are so synonymous, because we want to be them and they want to be us.” Nobody embodies that line more than Flau’Jae Johnson. She burst onto the scene two years ago as a freshman when Louisiana State University won the National Championship as a main piece of the team. The world also had the chance to experience her other talent: Rap.
For Flau’jae, choosing between basketball and music didn’t have to be a choice at all. “It’s just about being dedicated, consistent and being able to shut out the noise,” she says. “I think a lot of people will try to tell you what you can’t do. They try to put you in the box. They try to base their fears and project them onto you. But for me, it’s just having that mindset that I can be both.”
The Savannah native continues to shine as an athlete and rapper, making her debut album Best Of Both Worlds aptly titled. She is one of the most recognizable faces in college basketball, receiving multiple N.I.L. deals and sponsorships with brands like Overtime, Powerade, and Puma. She has also established herself as a legit musician with millions of streams and performing live on the ESPYs and the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. The fame came in recent years, but Flau’Jae had the vision long before.
“I’ve been rapping since I was like seven or eight,” Johnson states. “I started rapping just because my dad, Camouflage, was a rapper. And I just wanted to be like him. So my rapping started when I was very young.”
By the time her father—whose real name was Jason Johnson—became 21, he had already established himself as the biggest rapper in town, and he signed a major record label deal to prove it. Unfortunately, not too long after signing his deal, the rapper was shot and killed in May 2003. Flau’Jae’s mother was only three months pregnant with her at the time.
“For me, growing up, I really didn’t understand the severity of it,” the LSU guard admits. “Because how can you miss what you never had. As you get older, you start understanding more. But I always felt connected with him through music. That’s why music means so much to me. That’s why I have to do it, no matter what people say.”
Now, she’s living the dream that her father laid the foundation for; and she speaks about that on multiple tracks. She opens up her album with “Legendary Flows,” where she gets deep and introspective about why she takes rap so seriously. Another hit from the album is the Jersey club banger “Karma” featuring 2Rare. Flau’Jae shows her versatility on the playful beat as she switches between rapping and singing throughout her verse.
The standout track on the project is “Came Out A Beast,” a collaborative effort with Lil Wayne. The song is beautifully crafted, with production that samples Della Humprey’s “Don’t Make the Good Girls Go Bad.” Flau’Jae recorded the song as an ode to LSU, so it was only right that the state’s biggest artist appeared on it. The task of getting this legend on the track was ambitious, but consistency was key.
“After we won the championship, Sue Bird asked him on ESPN if he would ever give me a verse,” Flau’Jae says. “After that I kept pressing him and pressing him, he was taking his time, but it’s Lil Wayne I won’t rush him. So what I did was I went on Sway in the Morning, and I did the “Six Foot, Seven Foot” remix, and I killed it. After he saw it, that sped up the process.”
Not only did Wayne send her a verse back, but he also came to the video shoot, which included Flau’Jae’s teammates as well. Some of her closest friends and family were able to meet the New Orleans rapper, serving as a full-circle moment for Johnson, both in her life and her career.
“I was like ‘I need somebody big, like, a huge cosign on this track so they can take me seriously,’” Flau’Jae tells ESSENCE. “I never thought that it would be one of the greatest rappers of all time, but that just goes to show how much favor God got on my journey.”