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When Flau\u2019jae Johnson helped lead the Louisiana State University women\u2019s basketball team to a national championship last April, in her first season on the squad, she ascended to the top of the sport. The win, the school\u2019s first title, also vaulted her as a hip-hop artist, lifting a career that has found her teaming up with rap royalty.<\/p>\n
At least twice in the past year, Johnson staged rap performances within 24 hours of a game or a practice, in one instance opening for the chart-topping rapper and singer Rod Wave in Atlanta after traveling from Louisiana on a day off from the court. She walked offstage to body cramps after another performance in November; she had scored 17 points in a game hours before her show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know this is what I\u2019m supposed to be doing,\u201d said Johnson, 20, a sophomore guard who averages 14.2 points per game and over 62,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. \u201cIf you want to be a legend at something, you\u2019ve got to do something nobody has done before and execute it at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Johnson\u2019s two careers went into overdrive over the past year, and she\u2019s balancing both as L.S.U. prepares to defend its title in the N.C.A.A. tournament, starting with its first-round game on Friday. The same day, Johnson plans to release \u201cAMF (Ain\u2019t My Fault),\u201d her new song with the rapper NLE Choppa, who last year asked her and her L.S.U. teammate Angel Reese to appear in the video<\/a> for his single \u201cChampions\u201d; they made cameos alongside other top athletes including the boxers Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Mike Tyson. Johnson then asked NLE Choppa to collaborate on \u201cAMF,\u201d which will premiere on Snapchat through a partnership with the social media platform.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe\u2019s redefining and showcasing the renaissance and the revolution that is possible in women\u2019s sports,\u201d said Ketra Armstrong, a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan. \u201cShe\u2019s showing not only how you do it, but how you do it masterfully without compromising one for the other.\u201d<\/p>\n Kia Brooks, Johnson\u2019s mother and business manager, estimated that the rapper-hooper has earned nearly $3 million from endorsement deals involving her name, image and likeness, including partnerships with the audio-equipment maker JBL and the sports drink brand Powerade. Johnson also has a distribution deal with Roc Nation, and is coordinating a music video for an upcoming song with Lil Wayne, who became a fan<\/a> 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 star L.S.U. athletes.<\/p>\n Johnson began rapping at 7 years old \u2014 about a year after taking up basketball \u2014 inspired in part by her father. Jason Johnson, a rapper who was known as Camoflauge, was fatally shot in 2003 in Savannah, Ga., just months before Johnson\u2019s birth, but she said she feels his presence every day. Her first name (pronounced FLAW-zhay<\/a>) is derived from his stage name, Brooks said, and Johnson often makes mention of him in her songs. She performed a song about gun violence when she competed on America\u2019s Got Talent<\/a> at 14. In an introspective freestyle over the beat of the Fugees\u2019 \u201cReady or Not,\u201d Johnson raps, \u201cThey killed by daddy while my mama was pregnant, how I\u2019m supposed to feel?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s definitely my No. 1 inspiration,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI get my whole swag from him.\u201d<\/p>\n While in high school, she posted her music to YouTube, building a following that grew alongside fans\u2019 interest in her plans as a top recruit: She publicly announced her commitment to L.S.U. in a video<\/a> that also promoted the release of a new song.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Her off-campus two-bedroom apartment doubles as a recording studio complete with speakers, a microphone and monitors. Her jerseys are hung up on the walls, and the home studio also houses her championship ring and pet lizard. She often composes lyrics during flights to away games and records in her free time. Fans at her shows will hold up four fingers as she performs \u2014 a reference to her jersey number.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been rapping and playing basketball my whole life,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cNow that they see me on different stages, they always ask, \u2018How do you do it?\u2019 But it\u2019s like, I\u2019ve been doing it. Turn up in the summer, play basketball during basketball season and then go on about my day.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, though, the victory lap for last year\u2019s title is over. And just as she faces challengers on the court, Johnson has seen social media commenters try to discredit her rap skills. \u201cGet in the gym,\u201d is a common quip, she said. But she said those jabs only serve to motivate.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can be talented at multiple things and I don\u2019t think people are used to seeing that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n