Celebrity Coverage
Flau’Jae’s new music video is a moment of closure for the artist and athlete – Essence

Drake once said, “Sports and music are so synonymous because we want to be them and they want to be us.” No one embodies that line greater 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 key part of the team. The world has also had the likelihood to experience one other talent of hers: rap.
For Flau’jae, selecting between basketball and music didn’t should be a alternative in any respect. “It’s just about dedication, consistency, and being able to tune out the noise,” he says. “I think a lot of people will try to tell you what you can’t do. They try to put you in a box. They try to take their fears and put them on you. But for me, it’s just about being able to be both.”
The Savannah-born artist continues to shine as an athlete and rapper, together with her debut album fittingly titled. She’s one of the most recognizable faces in college basketball, landing multiple NIL deals and sponsorships with brands like Overtime, Powerade, and Puma. She’s established herself as a legitimate musician with tens of millions of streams and live performances at the ESPYs and the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. Fame has come lately, but Flau’Jae had a vision long before that.
“I’ve been rapping since I was seven or eight,” Johnson says. “I started rapping just because my dad, Camouflage, was a rapper. And I just wanted to be like him. So I started rapping when I was really young.”
By the time her father—whose real name was Jason Johnson—was 21, he was already the biggest rapper on the town, and to prove it, he signed with a major record label. Unfortunately, shortly after signing the contract, the rapper was shot and killed in May 2003. Flau’Jae’s mother was three months pregnant at the time.
“Growing up, I didn’t really understand the gravity of it,” the LSU linebacker admits. “Because how can you miss something you never had? The older you get, the more you understand. But I always connected to 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 her father set the foundation for; and she speaks about it on many of her songs. She opens her album with “Legendary Flows,” where she reflects deeply and introspectively on why she takes rap so seriously. Another hit from the album is the club banger Jersey “Karma” featuring 2Rare. Flau’Jae shows off her versatility on the fun beat as she switches between rapping and singing throughout the verse.
The most standout track on the project is “The beast got here out,” a collaborative effort with Lil Wayne. The song is beautifully crafted, with production that features a sample from Della Humphrey’s “Don’t Make the Good Girls Go Bad.” Flau’Jae recorded the song as a tribute to LSU, so it was only right that the state’s biggest artist would seem on it. The task of putting 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 pushing and pushing, and he was taking his time, but it’s Lil Wayne, I’m not going to rush him. So I went ahead and did the ‘Six Foot, Seven Foot’ remix and I blew it up. After he saw it, it sped up the whole process.”
Wayne not only sent her a verse back, but additionally got here to the video shoot, which Flau’Jae’s teammates also participated in. Some of her closest friends and family were capable of meet up with the New Orleans rapper, which was a moment of closure for Johnson, each in her life and profession.
“I was like, ‘I need someone big, someone who’s going to be a big co-writer on this song so they can take me seriously,’” Flau’Jae tells ESSENCE. “I never thought he’d be one of the greatest rappers of all time, but it shows how much grace God has given me on my journey.”
Celebrity Coverage
Latocha Scott sings through pain – essence

(Photo Umbrella Griffin/Getty Images)
Latocha Scott allows music to talk for her. The singer Xscape has just dropped the emotional form of Freestyle to Chris Brown, turning the viral #residualschallenge into confession. In an Instagram clip, all that is established-her 30-12 months-old marriage with Rocky Bivens has passed, rumors about his infidelity are associated and the pain cuts deeply.
“I read comments, I say he has a child on the way,” he sings. Fans quickly approached the severity, implied betrayal, regret loss of affection that was once unwavering.
But it isn’t nearly Rocky. Scott also extends his hand – in public – to repair the fences along with his sister and member of XScape, Tamika Scott. They have each been alienated for years, and their once current bond crashed after Tamika accused Latocha and Rocky of theft $ 30,000 in tantments from her.
Fallout played in real time, the Reality Bravo 2023 series, which after two legendary R&B groups tried to mix again on a joint concert tour. In one of the explosive moments of the Tamika series with tears, she confronted with Latocha, claiming that she had receipts proveing that the missing license checks were deposited on Rocky’s account. Latocha, surprised, denied the allegations, but her refusal to directly take care of claims meant that fans questioned the reality.
The situation increased from family dispute to full madness, and the Tamika doubled interviews and posts in social media, claiming that she was forced to silence to guard the group’s image. Meanwhile, Latocha maintained her innocence, but gave up farther from Xscape, transferring her concentration to a solo profession.

After her freestyle, Latocha also claimed that she was thrown out of Xscape – the statement that it was Kandi Burruses, a member of the group, closed quickly. While the group continues to be going forward as a trio, although at first it’s 4, Burruss explained that Latocha was never faraway from the group, but reasonably decided to go away due to continuous tensions.
Tamika Scott also weighed, calling for sharing their thoughts concerning the song. Although she admitted that Freestyle Latocha’s style was well made, she questioned her honesty, suggesting that it was a “brilliant marketing strategy for her new music,” said Tamika, leaving a spot to debate about whether the general public request was really honest or simply for attention. Nevertheless, Tamika told her sister to “drive up, let’s talk.”
Still, the web is buzzing. Some fans praise Latoch’s susceptibility, calling freestyle a master class in transforming pain into art. Others ask if public display of regret can fix the years of harm.
Celebrity Coverage
Ici: Keke Palmer’s Beauty appearance and more – Essence

ASKRS> Keke Palmer
Time is now for essentially the most fashionable moments in celebrity between Fashion Week, a season of prizes and magazine covers. Meanwhile, some glances required a full GLAM team once we finished a month and Valentine’s Day, sleeping hair and romantic manicures are still strong.
For example Black flexible headband. With an analogous volume Honey Afro Janet Jackson was entwined with a red gel manicure to enhance the golden accents. Then the model Alva Claire attended Baft in a fragile UPDO, which combined her curved, thin eyebrows and a blue-winged insert.
Makeup Artist Dee Carrion was chargeable for the golden lips and teeth in the quilt. Then Coco Jones’s hair was soaked in water – glass lids and lips added to the appearance. As for TEMS? The shiny French manicure was cherry on its siren and hot chocolate gloss.
And those that participated within the NAACP rewards didn’t come either. Keke Palmer has turn into viral not only due to touching speech of “Artist of the Year”, but additionally due to her to knock out beauty: elegant red hair and gothic makeup makeup.
Sheryl Lee Ralph was on her “suit and draw” that night. Saisha Beecham Saisha Beecham worked on shiny magic, as she put it, “Sixty Fine” within the years. Finally, the hair artist Larry Sims gave the Gabrielle Union museum by some means Bobów. He wrote within the signature “It gives a film star”. And we couldn’t agree more.
If you missed this, take a look at the very best moments of beauty from the week.
Celebrity Coverage
Cosmetic school: Expert for additional long nails – essence

“At that time we only had acrylic,” Angie Aguirre says Essence, who puts ESPY-Jones in the primary episode. “We didn’t have a number of things we have today.” Starting the series, in honor of the Black History of the month, Aguirre, nail artist Sha’carri Richardson, resembles a black story for extremely long nails-at the identical time spreading techniques from the past.
From memories of curved acrylics on Flo Jo of the Eighties to the red manicure in Donn Summer, and even the nail of Stiletto from the Nineteen Thirties about Queen Nenzim from the Democratic Republic of Congo, manicure for construction has a wealthy history hidden behind every decorating extension.
Using the attention shadows as a substitute of the airbrush machine (which within the Nineteen Nineties was a big, loud pedal machine), she recreated one of the vital popular styles that has since appeared today as a preferred look.
Often appropriated in popular culture long, loud nails are historically called “ghetto” as an offensive statement after they wear black women. Meanwhile, they are sometimes seen as fashionable after they wear white celebrities.
“We usually set up trends [and] People kick, “says Aguirre within the film while painting about traditional nail art visible within the Nineteen Nineties.” When pop culture gets it, they change what they want to be like that. ” However, “black women wore these nails long before social media.”
Now that the nail industry is to succeed in USD 36.27 billion until 2032Aguirre explains the influence that black women have on beauty and what the longer term of those historical manicures will seem like. “Nail game has become very innovative,” he says, with latest products reminiscent of Gel-X. “[It’s] It is very different from what was during the day. “
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