On the court and on the mic, Flau’jae Johnson is taking her game to new heights

When Flau’jae Johnson recalls the game clock ticking down in Dallas on April 2, 2023, she doesn’t think about ending her freshman campaign racking up hustle stats and the most playing time of any Tiger—spending only 3 minutes on the bench—or LSU routing Iowa with a record-breaking 102-85 victory and first basketball national title. She doesn’t think about Caitlin Clark and Jasmine Carson’s pulse-raising three-point shootout, or Angel Reese’s “you can’t see me,” or even sprinting to lift Coach Kim Mulkey, and all her shimmering tiger stripes, up in her arms.

With a peak of 12.6 million TV viewers, it was the most watched women’s college basketball game in history, but when Johnson thinks about that moment, her mind is sharply focused, pivoting like a scoring spin-move at the hoop, straight to the next opportunity.

“Now—this time?” the 22-year-old, nearly 20 points-per-game scorer says. “Winning a championship would be on a spiritual level.”

From flashy freshman to multi-millionaire NIL star, rising hip-hop artist, investment-savvy entrepreneur, and—surprise—returning senior, the three years since that stunning title run have been nothing short of epic for the All-American shooting guard.

And she’s ready for anything that may come next.

“[The 2023 championship] felt amazing, but, honestly, because I was so young, I didn’t really understand it as much as I would now,” Johnson says. “That championship changed my life. I was part of something great. But this year, I’m leading something great.”

I know what I’m ’bout, but really, they just finding it out, what come with the rain, the same thing gon’ come with the drought…

The best leadership begins with sacrifice, and celebrated results start with small, unseen decisions. Every morning as a teenager, Johnson was awake at 5 a.m. to get hundreds of shots up in a quiet gym before the first ring of the bell.

That dedication paid off with a total of 1,615 points, a record at Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Georgia, where her “4” jersey is now retired and where, last fall, Johnson gave back in a big way. She unveiled a plush renovation to the girls’ team locker room in collaboration with Meta, one of her NIL partners.

JBL, Puma and Powerade are a fraction of the other endorsement deals Johnson has inked with her mother, Kia Brooks, the agent and “momager” Johnson says has sacrificed so much for her.

“I want to be remembered for being a hard worker—that’s it,” Johnson says. “I want my LSU teammates to be like, ‘Bro, she worked hard. She was always in the gym. She was always watching film. She was always doing what she was talking about.’”

With their equal obsessions for routine and consistency, their maximalist style and an emotionally-charged no-filter honesty, Johnson and Mulkey are as close to a perfect player-coach pair as a team can get. The first McDonald’s All-American that Mulkey recruited to LSU, Johnson was the first player to celebrate with her coach at the 2023 championship.

“With Coach Mulkey, what you see is what you get—every day,” Johnson says. “It’s not a lot of people who can bring that same level of consistency she does all the time. That’s what she inspires in me—a lot of energy to be consistent in my preparation.”

Whether it’s on the hardwood or the boardroom, Johnson works as if she knows that tomorrow is never promised. That realization comes from her father, Jason Johnson, a rapper known as Camouflage who not only hit the Billboard charts in the early 2000s, he spoke in Savannah-area schools and dressed as Santa to conduct gift giveaways for children in public housing. In a case that remains unsolved, Jason Johnson was fatally shot outside of a recording studio in 2003. He was only 21.

Six months later, Flau’jae was born.

“Time is the only thing that we can’t get back, so I like to make the most of every moment,” she says. “I just feel like nowadays it’s easier to be great if you just focus, because I feel like a lot of people are so distracted.”

I’m being consistent this time around, that’s what the difference is. If you don’t believe in your dream, what make you think they listenin’?

If this Jordan-esque devotion to routine comes naturally to her, so does razzle-dazzle showmanship. Johnson announced her commitment to LSU not at a traditional cap selection ceremony but by dropping a single and a music video co-starring Lil Boosie as the fictional coach of her youth.

After writing raps with her uncles as a child and performing at parties and events in Georgia for years, she reached the quarterfinals of America’s Got Talent in 2018 with her own anti-gun violence anthem. She was only 14. Five years later she competed on an all-star edition of the show, a performance that led to her signing with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation record label, her breakthrough 2024 album Best of Both Worlds and some high-profile collaborations.

“Working with Wyclef Jean [on his ‘Paper Right’] changed my mindset, and Lil Wayne [who features on her ‘Came Out a Beast’] too,” Johnson says. “I like aligning with people who have a certain mindset. [LSU associate head coach] Bob Starkey is one of those people. He thinks on another level and gets me thinking from a different perspective.”

Her influences may be eclectic, but so are her supporters. Few have earned adoration from both Caitlin Clark and Simon Cowell, but last summer the Indiana Fever star told Sports Illustrated that Johnson’s game is elite, while the infamously unimpressed America’s Got Talent judge confessed that her performances made him feel emotional, and that Johnson was bound to be “a big star.”

“On the court, if you’re worried about making a mistake, you’re never going to make that play that you probably could make, because you’ll be playing timid,” Johnson says. “It’s the same thing with music. I can’t be worried about messing up or some people’s opinions. I have to be confident and go all in.”

If LSU fans want reassurance of the confidence the senior leader is bringing to this final run with Tigers, they can listen to her new release One of a Kind and its aggressive single “Courtside.”

As for which of Johnson’s songs is the most personal, she chooses “Perfect Timing.”

“If someone asks me what song is the most ‘me,’ it’s that one,” Johnson says of the relaxed and confident track that is quoted throughout this story. “It really is everything I’m about.”

And my dream gon’ start alignin’. And I won’t stop ’cause I’m on my way. I just gotta keep on grindin’. And it’s gon’ come with perfect timing…

Resting on the bench at the end of an early-season LSU blowout in November, Johnson had a moment to really scan the crowd. She noticed college students waving homemade posters, and little girls waiting wide-eyed for a picture with their heroes, and whole families dressed to the nines in their purple-and-gold best for basketball church.

It gave her even more appreciation for every cheer and every interaction she gets with Tiger fans.

“I feel like the greatest thing we can do as people is just inspire others,” Johnson says. “I think that’s our duty, actually. Inspiration can do greater things than money ever could.”

Her time in Baton Rouge, in an LSU uniform, is drawing to a crescendo more than an ending. Number 4 would give an arm to taste another title this year, she says. And one day, when Johnson is retired from basketball, has a family and builds a house, she wants it in the Capital City. Baton Rouge is that special to her.

“I’ve been to a lot of places, different continents and countries now, and nothing tastes like the food here,” Johnson says. “The people are the friendliest here, and I just love the energy of this place. It’s different than anything in the world.”

At an unusually young age, through hardship and healing, discipline and determination, spotlights and highlights, Johnson has earned a deep understanding and appreciation of legacy. Carrying it, and building it, too.

“I feel like I’m really present in it right now,” Johnson says. “Leaving a legacy in Baton Rouge is definitely a factor in why I came back. I feel like this year I can really establish my legacy of who I am and what I’m about.”

That motivation is evident in the bold spirit echoing through her rapid-fire vocals, in the purple letters cheering across her chest for four straight decorated seasons, and the golden belief in her heart that God’s path before her has been set.

“Just pray—I tell my teammates that all the time,” she says. “I used to try to do things by myself, and it was never fulfilling, but once I started doing this with God, with everything I have going on, it feels so much better.”

Making an impact influences every one of Johnson’s NIL and investment decisions, every early-morning gym session, every sweaty team huddle with the game on the line, and each time she steps up to the mic, or into the paint, feeling absolutely fearless.

“I came to bring a championship back to this city, and prove that I can lead this team,” Johnson says. “Whatever happens, I want to show that I’m becoming the best I can be—in basketball and in music. And I feel like my legacy has really written itself out in Baton Rouge, and to me, that’s an amazing thing.”