Flau’jae Johnson knows about having the best of both worlds, which makes her sartorial choice to wear Puma sweatpants, a zip-up Sp5der hoodie, and a retro Hannah Montana graphic tee apropos for the occasion. “I literally bought this thrifting outside of Cam Kirk Studios. I love Miley Cyrus,” Johnson tells Teen Vogue at Bravo Ocean Studios in Atlanta. “I named my album Best of Both Worlds, and I feel like she represents me. I put that together because she was a normal person, and then she was a superstar. That's me.”
It’s the night before Johnson’s September cover shoot for Teen Vogue, and she’s excited to be “in somebody else's playing field” during her fitting, she says. But Johnson is no rookie to fittings and photo shoots: She has graced the cover of SLAM not once but twice, alongside her Louisiana State University basketball teammates.
Johnson may be used to deftly crossing up her opponents on the court, but these eight-inch Marc Jacobs boots are literal ankle-breakers. Her reservations are apparent as she eyes each piece as it's placed on her athletic frame; but she’s eager, no matter the challenge, which is a deep reflection of her years of basketball training. Trusting your team when it’s game time is something she’s accustomed to, and in fashion, it’s the same.
“I get high fashion, but still, it’s got to be in the way I’m comfortable. That’s why I ask a lot of questions,” she says. “Is this a collaborative effort or do stylists take full control?”
When cameras go up the next morning, Johnson transforms while Megan Thee Stallion’s “Her” blasts through the speakers of a Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta penthouse suite. Johnson's mother and manager, Kia Brooks, is enjoying the moment, spreading her reverie across the room.
“Oh, this is hard,” Johnson says in awe, changing into an animal print Theophilio jacket, which she says gives off major LSU Tigers energy. Now more than ever, as Johnson enters her final year of college basketball, she is preparing herself for what the current era of professional women's basketball will look like. Designer clothes, flashing cameras, and cooing crowds are just the beginning.
Known to many as “Big 4,” Flau’jae Monae Johnson, 21, is a senior guard on the LSU women’s basketball team. In addition to being last season’s leading scorer, she is a rapper, a businesswoman and philanthropist, a former reality competition series star, and a 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball champion. With a burgeoning music career and as a top WNBA draft prospect with a bright future, Johnson — like many Gen Z'ers — refuses to pick just one lane.
On Friday, July 25, Johnson hosted her third annual Back2School Giveaway in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia, providing free school supplies, offering mammograms, and signing autographs for more than 2,500 attendees. On Sunday night, she flew from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Baton Rouge to tend to her responsibilities as a college athlete. The following morning, Johnson returned to Georgia for scheduled meetings, outfit fittings, and her Teen Vogue cover interview, which doubled as a studio session.
But it’s a slow start to the week for the hooper-turned-hitmaker. “Well, today was lighter, because I feel like it’s been longer sessions,” says Johnson, as she sinks into a rolling chair. “Usually, my day is like boom, boom, boom, but today was chill. Tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m., I'm going back to Baton Rouge to train and practice. Then I’m flying to Miami the next day for Unrivaled.”
It’s almost 10 p.m. in southeast Atlanta. In the studio R&B plays softly in the background, featuring the voices of SZA, Snoh Alegra, and more. Johnson is joined by her mother, two younger brothers, and members of her management team. The room is backlit with a fluorescent, dark purple hue, and to the left is a small nook with glass sliding doors and an artificial-grass accent wall. Inside the nook sits a solitary barstool, music stand and microphone; it’s there that Johnson blocks out the noise, locks in, and brings life to her lyrics.
For the average 21-year-old, a schedule like this would cause whiplash. But Johnson’s life has been anything but average, as is evident by the camera crew that follows her around for “Follow Me Along to the Draft.” Since age seven or eight, Johnson's been in the limelight, rapping at an annual birthday celebration for her late father; in 2018, at age 14, Johnson performed on America’s Got Talent, earning a golden buzzer and skyrocketing her musical career. On the court, Johnson ascended to popularity after the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball National Championship.
Her list of pre-college basketball accolades is long and impressive too. Johnson finished her high school athletic career as the all-time leading scorer at Sprayberry High School, amassing 1,615 points in four years, ultimately retiring her jersey number. She played in the famed McDonald’s All American Game, the most prestigious stage for future basketball royalty, joining the likes of Skylar Diggins, Maya Moore, Candace Parker, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal.
“The things I experienced — winning the National Championship and all the things that happened — that was a once-in-a-lifetime type thing,” Johnson says, reflecting on her childhood success. “In high school, I had a little bit of clout, but I never got the real college experience. I was out the way: going to the gym, then home, gym, home. As an athlete you live a different life.”
Adding music to her career roster was in part a way to cope, but it's also a family legacy. Music enables Johnson to pause and reconnect with the world. “When I'm in the gym, the only thing that's on my mind is just getting better and working out," she explains. "But music is therapeutic for me. That's the only thing that slows me down.”
Months before Flau’jae’s birth, her father, early 2000s rapper Camoflauge (born Jason Akeil Johnson), was fatally shot outside of a recording studio. In June, she released a single called “Remember When” as a tribute to him.
“People always ask me why I started rapping,” Johnson says. “I just wanted to be like my dad. It’s like I’m trying to chase his flow. That's what it was at first, but then I fell in love with music, creating, and the whole process. Then, watching other people create, hearing their creations, and wanting to change it.”
By 2012, Johnson had put her own spin on tracks, one of the first being her remix of “The Way I Live” by Baby Boy Da Prince featuring P. Town Moe. Her mother scoots closer, showing me an unlisted YouTube video of Johnson that's more than 12 years old.
“I was rapping it on the bed," Johnson recalls. "That was my first-ever remix. My uncle wrote it for me, and I was about eight years old. I ended up performing it at my dad's birthday.”
In the video, a young Flau’jae sports a neon green bow with a matching skirt and suspenders, a white button-down shirt, and glasses. She is transformed into a full-fledged performer, turning “The Way I Live” into “The Way I Chill”:
“This is the way I chill / Lil’ girl still poppin’ dollar bills / Me and mama hit the mall and spill.”
After posting the video on Instagram, it went viral, and Johnson started booking local gigs. She’s come a long way since then, appearing on season 3 of the reality television series The Rap Game, competing on the aforementioned America’s Got Talent, performing at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, getting signed to Roc Nation, and releasing her own EP.
It’s easy to want it all, but how do you get it? According to LSU Women’s Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey, it’s all in Johnson’s attitude: “Everybody needs to have the pleasure of coaching a Flau’jae Johnson. She makes our life so joyful.” In 40 seasons of coaching, Mulkey says, Johnson is the most joyous player she’s ever seen. Even when her spirits are down, she’s never out for long. Johnson plays with a palpable exuberance, and dedicates the same effort to her game as she does to her craft.
When Johnson was recruited, Mulkey knew that she also valued being able to maintain her music career. Few athletic programs were willing to allow Johnson to pursue both passions, Mulkey says, but LSU was. Coach Mulkey's only ask? When the season starts, Johnson gives her undivided attention to basketball. Just two days before Johnson's scheduled performance at Aisle 5, she canceled the concert to squeeze in her photo shoot and fulfill athletic obligations.
Over four years, it’s been a tightrope that Johnson has walked well, which she attributes in part to having a blueprint of her father’s career. “When you have an inspiration, you’re chasing that. If he was here, I'd be like, ‘I'm about to be bigger than you, ain’t it?! I'm on your level,’” Johnson says playfully. “I still look at my dad as top key, but somebody told me the other day, like, ‘Flau, you’re 21. You're your dad's age when he died, and look at all the stuff that you did.’"
Johnson adds, "It gives you perspective on how much I've done, how much he did, and how much I've still got to go to carve out a legacy for myself and him.”
Now Johnson will finish out her final collegiate year, but she is on the precipice of what, by all measures, seems to be major success in the WNBA. Her rise is happening at the same time as the league’s. In the past year, fan attendance and TV ratings have continued to surge for the WNBA. At the collegiate level, NCAA Women’s March Madness viewership has increased 22% since 2024 and 89% since 2023.
Johnson chose to return to college instead of declaring for the WNBA this season because she has some unfinished business. After her team lost to UCLA in the quarterfinals, she felt she needed to return to clinch a title before she could move on. But the league she will enter into looks much different from the WNBA of the past — and as a player, so does Johnson.
“There wasn’t really any femininity,” she says of style and appearance in the WNBA in the past. Archaic and rigid gender norms were tethered to her performance on the court, and it didn’t help that women’s sports and women athletes were not as visible. It was confusing and uncomfortable, she says.
Being Black and from the South, “my appearance is everything,” Johnson says. Yet growing up, she wrestled with the expectations of what people thought a female basketball player “should” look like versus what she naturally gravitated to. “The only reason I couldn’t dress back then was because I was scared to do what I actually wanted to do,” she remembers, listing off her many different style phases, including bucket hats, jackets, and jeans.
“As a young girl, to be a basketball player, you've got to be dominant," Johnson continues. "You've got to wear boy clothes and stuff like that, because that's who you were looking up to. I’m like that on the court, so now, I’ll carry that persona everywhere. I was trying to dress like my favorite hoopers back then,” she says, citing LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
Recently, there’s been a shift. As viewership of women’s basketball has risen, we’ve also seen an increase in WNBA players attending or walking in New York Fashion Week; Angel Reese was even mentioned in last season’s Bronx and Banco show notes. Whether it's Fenty Beauty or Mielle Organics, Kim Kardashian’s Skims, Coach, and more, brands have been flocking to invest in the WNBA. Labels like Prada, Sergio Hudson, and Hanifa have dressed top-draft picks — and some franchises, such as the Golden State Valkyries, are even hosting their own runway shows.
“Everything just changed with the times. You’ve got to think with A.I., he changed the game in the NBA,” Johnson says of Allen Iverson, referencing the famed shooting guard’s cornrows and unapologetic resistance to respectability politics. “I feel like with the WNBA, we are just a newer league. The time is now, but I still feel like there's going to be somebody that comes in, blows it out of the water, and becomes a fashion icon like A.I. Because that’s the space for it. There’s a lot of individuality. Women know how to rock it well, and brands love that.… I think it's just the perfect time with the rise of women's basketball, but also just fashion.”
This change has encouraged Johnson to start experimenting with her own looks. “Now I’m moreso discovering my style," she says. "I’m still very tomboyish, but I like to sprinkle in different versions of myself now.” Johnson cites Teyana Taylor, Rihanna, and A$AP Rocky as her current style muses. She admires their complexity and fluidity, as well as their creative, playful approaches to fashion. This interest has also bled into Johnson's on-court appearance.
“I spend about an hour and 30 minutes before a game getting ready. I’m talking about hair, lashes, makeup, and eyebrows," she explains. "Your appearance is like your forcefield. It’s my aura.” (But she declines to reveal how she keeps her edges laid in the middle of the game.) “It protects me from my own insecurities. That's why I think fashion is so cool, because you're able to create an identity that caters to your insecurities or something you want to hide, something you want to show, something you want to embrace. I think it’s what you make it.”
For Johnson that means gravitating toward more tailored looks. “I'm a tall girl, so I don’t like extra-larges, high waters, and all of that," she says. "I love clothes that really fit me, that feel like they're tailored to me.”
This also means encouraging experimentation and individuality in the girls coming up under her. “Sometimes I’ll be at the gym with some kids, and a mom may come up to me and she's like, ‘Tell my daughter she could still be cute and play basketball.’ And I'm like, ‘Bro, this lady sounds like my mama!’” Johnson says. “It’s always that stigma, but you could do it how you want to do it.”
Johnson is often thinking about her impact, and her status. “I always think of the quote, ‘The most unprotected person in the world is a Black woman,’” she says. That’s why it’s so important to Johnson that she lifts up other Black women as she climbs. It’s why she hosted that July fundraiser in her hometown. “I know I'm a representation of the Black community, of Black women. So I have to pour resources back into my community. I'm thinking this is going to help kids' confidence.”
Really, Johnson is passing along the lessons her mother instilled in her early on — lessons that have helped her navigate the inevitable stereotyping she’s faced as a darker-skinned Black woman. From the “dirty debutantes” comments published in the Los Angeles Times about her and her LSU teammates to assumptions people make about her, Johnson is keenly aware of how colorism impacts her life.
“I have felt a little bit of that. Just a little bit,” she says. “Seeing how they try to compare me to somebody that don't have no kind of accolades like me. Even when I was little and they started doing my makeup on America's Got Talent, I said, ‘This ain't my color. You ain’t finna lighten me up.’”
From Johnson's birth, her mother was deliberate and intentional in ensuring that her daughter celebrated and loved her complexion. “I would find dark-skin Baby Alive and Cabbage Patch dolls for Flau’jae," Brooks recalls. "I started thinking about all the other little dark-skinned girls that need to see Flau'jae in that space.”
Says Johnson, “I had seen myself on a little TV show before one time and I couldn't look at myself. I didn’t even look dark-skinned. Then to your point, Mom, I started thinking about all the young girls. They're really looking at you and, basically, you’re telling her that your dark skin ain't beautiful enough, so make it lighter. But I need to see a me. Every time I see a little dark-skin girl, every time I meet a young fan, I always say, ‘You're so beautiful.’”
It’s with this same intention that Johnson approaches her business deals. When she walks into a brand meeting, she seeks to open doors, she says, not just for herself but for the young women after her. That means negotiating for her worth. To no one’s surprise, Johnson's ethos organically aligns with the women of the WNBPA, the players’ union for the WNBA, as they negotiate the next collective bargaining agreement.
For Johnson, their solidarity and advocacy is deeply profound and meaningful. “It's beautiful that all the women are coming together. And I feel like people get the wrong message of what it's about," she says. "It's not about getting paid like the NBA players; it's just about getting paid our due percentage of the revenue share. It's something that's got to be fixed, and it's deserved from a lot of work being put in for it. It's about fair treatment, so I'm down with the cause. I hope they figure it out soon.”
It is perhaps an understatement to say that Johnson’s life is full — maybe even overflowing. Much of her happiness plays out on the world stage, in championships and accolades and record releases. But as her star has risen, Johnson has become somewhat more reserved in how she approaches public life. “I think that's normal as you get more and more influence,” she says. “But now, sometimes I think twice, because it's like, who am I affecting?"
She continues, "I learned to be a little bit more cautious with what I say. I really speak from the heart, but people have used that to try and spin a narrative, like I'm being negative or something. That's one thing I learned being in the limelight a little bit more. It did change me. I don't like to say that I got more guarded, but I became a little more protective of my energy and the energy I put out.”
One person has served as Johnson's safe place: her boyfriend Chris Hilton Jr., the LSU senior wide receiver. While she tries to bring out Hilton’s outgoing side, Johnson says, he gave her the space to be herself, authentically loving her for who she is. The pair became Instagram official in December. “I think that's a really cool thing,” Johnson says, toggling her promise ring. “You can genuinely be yourself and let your hair down. I feel like everybody has somewhat of a facade up every day, but we can really be comfortable.”
When Johnson shared Christmas photos of her and Hilton online, her Instagram comments section was filled with shock from followers who thought she was dating a woman. Sure, the WNBA is a predominantly Black league, led by many out and proud queer women, but there was no reason for spectators to assume Johnson’s sexuality based merely on the sport she plays. It happens frequently, though; the same hysteria showed up in how fans speculated about Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers’ bond for years, until the pair finally, subtly, shared their relationship status.
“For my relationship, I'm a private person," says Johnson. "I like private, not secret. But my boyfriend, he's like, ‘I want to show you off.’ And I was like, ‘How can you say no to that?’” she adds with a smile. “We did Christmas pictures, and I had never done that before. He'd never done it before. It was just fun.”
She continues, "But I don't like the public in my business. The number one thing they wanted to say was, ‘I thought she was gay!’ I never popped out with a girlfriend ever, but cause I play basketball you assumed? And I had a boyfriend before Chris, so that just goes back to the stereotypes. It’s also like, mind your business.”
As she approaches her senior season, these moments of control keep her grounded, whether it’s relishing in the joy of a private relationship or inking a deal that sets up other young Black women for success. “Because I can control small things,” Johnson says, “I can control all things.”
It’s with this mindset that she will take on a new role as a leader on the court, one that Coach Mulkey says she’s grown into. Upon arriving at LSU, Mulkey says, she thought Johnson initially shrunk from and avoided leadership. But she has found her footing.
“When Flau’jae got here as a freshman, just like all freshmen, you're somewhat immature, but not in a bad way,” Mulkey explains. “You’re just young, wide-eyed, looking around and trying to follow older players. As she has gotten older, she has to learn how to accept being a leader. As I tell her, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected, and you have to become a leader for us.' She understands that better now.”
Looking even farther into the future, Johnson is ready for her own quintessential “Welcome to the League” moment — she wants to experience the infamous WNBA rookie learning curve authentically. “I’m trying to fall on my face! I'm weird like that,” Johnson says with a laugh. “I'm trying to see, Is this bussing like that for real? When I come in, how hard is it going to be? Or is it going to be easy for me?"
Johnson adds, "Seeing them excel, it means everything to me because they came from where I came from. Now they're at the top level. That could only make you feel good, because that's where I want to be.”
Whether breaking records in the WNBA or closing the wealth gap and becoming a mogul, Johnson has big dreams. Basketball and music are stepping stones for her on the path to creating brands, owning companies and, ultimately, becoming a multihyphenate. “I'm a businesswoman at heart — I ain't going to lie. I'm not going to make a billion dollars rapping in an arena, but I could make a billion dollars investing in the seats that are in the arena,” she says.
“I’m going to be one of the greatest to touch a mic and a basketball,” Johnson declares. While she sees a Grammy (and a coveted Adele feature) as the pinnacle of success, she also sees her legacy as being a vehicle for change in the world. Johnson strives not only for her father, her family, and her community, but for her younger self — and anyone who may have doubted her.
“I'm so excited. I'm ready to play,” Johnson says. “As a basketball player, you just want to play. I have so much, not even to prove, but just to show. I know who I am as a player. A lot of people know who I am as a player, but it's time for me to do that,” she says. “You go in or it's no more redos. I feel like I'm taking everything in differently because I know it's my last one. It's like a farewell tour. It's been an amazing four years, but I'm ready for this season.”
Photographer Kendall Bessent
Photo Assistant Anthony Wallen
Stylist / Global Fashion Director Tchesmeni Leonard
Stylist Assistant / Associate Fashion Editor Samantha Gasmer
Tailor Fhonia Ellis
Prop Stylist Catriana Charles
Hair Stylist Karjah Carter
Makeup Artist Jasmine Madison
Manicurist Kim Cao
Movement Director Dalyss Hamilton
Producer Caroline Hughes
Production Assistant Alivia Korsun
BTS Video Rhiannon Ewalt
Location Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta
Location Swan House at Atlanta History Center
Retoucher Alberto Maro
Design Director Emily Zirimis
Senior Designer Liz Coulbourn
Associate Visuals Editor Bea Oyster
Assistant Fashion Editor Crystal Okonkwo
Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma
Features Director Brittney McNamara
Style Director Alyssa Hardy
Associate Editor Aiyana Ishmael
Associate Editor, Fashion and Beauty Donya Momenian
Associate Culture Director P. Claire Dodson
Culture Editor Kaitlyn McNab
Talent Booker Paige Garbarini
Associate Director of Audience Development & Analytics Mandy Velez Tatti
Senior Manager, Social Media Honestine Fraser
Senior Manager, Social Media Jillian Selzer
Editorial Assistant Skyli Alvarez
