Flau'jae Johnson's Lil Wayne collab set to finally drop

The big picture: Since being part of the team that won LSU's first women's basketball national championship, "I've been living the dream," Johnson told Axios' Sara Fischer at the Axios Women's Sports House during the 2024 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

• That national championship win also sent teammate Angel Reese's career into the stratosphere while feeding the media narrative around her rivalry with Caitlin Clark.
• It also helped put a stake in the ground for the growing audience demand for women's sports.

Yes, but: Johnson has long been about more than basketball.

• Growing up in Savannah, Georgia, Johnson was inspired to be a performing artist by her father, a rapper who went by the name Camoflauge. He was shot and killed outside a recording studio in 2003, several months before Johnson was born.
• "I actually just kind of kept working on it and got good at it," she said. "And it was something that I felt like was in my blood, honestly."
• That early effort turned into an appearance on "America's Got Talent" when she was just 14 and eventually a distribution deal with ROC Nation.

The fine print: That deal leaves a lot of control in Johnson's hands, she said.

• "I could still own my own masters, still have creative control and kind of be my own boss," she said.
• It's an ethos that seems to be threaded through much of the athletic management at LSU since NIL deals came into the picture. Johnson is part of a class of athletes like Reese and Livvy Dunne who are creating lucrative businesses during their college careers.

Case in point: When Fischer asked Johnson about her own NIL deals, Johnson had trouble keeping track of them all, calling to her mom and manager, Kia Brooks, offstage to help her remember.

"That's even why I chose LSU," she said, "because we aligned."

• "Even though I did music, coach [Kim] Mulkey still wanted me to come and not put me in a box. She even took me to the studio on my official tour."
• "She's like, 'This is your dorm. This is where we practice, and this is where you'll record.' So they always kind of understood the vision."

Zoom in: It's also the basis for "The Money Game," an upcoming Prime docu-series co-produced by Axios Entertainment and co-starring Johnson, Dunne and Reese.

• But first, that vision will come to life this week with the release of Johnson's EP and the collaboration with New Orleans native Lil Wayne.
• The project came about after WNBA legend Sue Bird challenged Lil Wayne to reach out to the young rapper and basketball star, Johnson said.

What's next: A music video for the collaboration "is definitely going to be LSU," Johnson teased.

• "When you go to a college, you become a part of the whole," she said. "I'm dying a Tiger, I'll tell you that. I really wanted to make [the video] LSU themed and just give something for Louisiana to hold onto."

Go deeper:

• Olivia Dunne, Angel Reese and LSU athletes to star in new Axios docuseries on Prime Video.
• Why public relations firms are venturing into sports.