Johnniqua Charles is sharing her story after becoming an internet superstar overnight for a video showing her rapping a song while being detained.
In profiles by HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and Pitchfork, Charles explained that she had no idea how much her life would change after complaining about an unfair detainment one night in Dillon, South Carolina.
Charles was shot into the public eye on February 5 when Julius Locklear, the security guard who detained Charles outside of Diamonds Gentlemen’s Club, posted a video of her detainment. Locklear told Buzzfeed News that he had a fellow security guard take the video because his body camera was not working.
“Okay IM NOT POSTING THIS TO BE FUNNY TOWARDS THIS SUBJECT!!!! I’m posting it cause that rap was lit like I wish I could put a beat to it lol,” Locklear wrote on Facebook.
“Why are you detaining me? You about to lose yo job. You about to lose yo job. You about to lose yo job. Get this dance! You about to lose yo job ‘cause you are detaining me for nothing,” Charles sang while dancing.
It appears Locklear was not alone in liking the tune because it quickly racked up thousands of likes on his page before migrating to Twitter, where it brought in millions of views.
The song then got the remix treatment thanks to DJ Suede the Remix God and DJ iMarkkeyz, who turned the song into a full-fledged hit that took over the internet.
The song has quickly become an anthem being sung widely at the recent protests over George Floyd's death and police brutality.
That ‘You About to Lose Your Job’ is ringin off in the streets. pic.twitter.com/X2pa6jM6nv
— JaValle (@JaValle) June 9, 2020
The whole situation started over a misunderstanding, Charles told BuzzFeed. She left her purse inside the DJ booth at the club and was trying to get back in to get it.
“I guess he thought I was going back in just to go back inside the club, but he wouldn’t allow me, and that’s how the argument between me and him started. I told him to suck my d**k, and that is the moment he basically put the handcuffs on me and tussled with me a little bit,” Charles said.
Locklear, who hasn't lost his job, said in an interview with BuzzFeed that it "had nothing to do with race or discrimination."
"You can see me handling it professionally and trying to keep a straight face, but I couldn't," he said.
Despite being angry that she was unfairly detained, Charles did tell HuffPost that Locklear handled the situation the right way compared to other security guards and police officers.
“Even though he detained me for nothing, he’s an example of how you handle a situation like that. He is an example to cops who have been in the game for years. I wasn’t being out of control but I was agitating him and he wasn’t even agitated. With another cop it probably would have been a situation where it would have been fatal, something like that. Other cops can really learn from him,” Charles said.
The song has inspired signs that are being carried at protests across the country.
“You about to lose yo’ job!” As the Berkeley protest wraps up, some young women dance to a chant that’s gone viral (and gotten remixed) this weekend. @KQEDnews
pic.twitter.com/vmXi9cFaAL— Susie (@susieneilson) June 7, 2020
"Now I want to go protest, with my song playing, in the front. For people from George Floyd’s family to contact me and be like, 'You’ve brightened up our day' — that means a lot," Charles said to Pitchfork.
Charles said that initially, she was afraid her family would be embarrassed by the video. But once her sister told her how widely it was being viewed, shared and loved, Charles knew she had to capitalize on it.
She made t-shirts and started a GoFundMe page that has brought in more than $50,000. Charles told HuffPost she has struggled with homelessness and addiction in the past and has been astonished by the outpouring of love and support from fans of the song.
She has thousands of fans now on Instagram and has been telling her story widely since the song inspired even more remixes.
“I’m just overwhelmed, and I’m such a humble person [that] to see that, it’s just amazing to me. I’m just glad that it’s something so positive. Other people keep telling me I helped them so much, but they don’t understand — nobody understands — how much this video going viral like this is helping me, because it’s giving me the breakthrough I so badly needed for so long,” Charles told BuzzFeed News.
She told the outlet that she was previously doing sex work and was not able to care for her young son, who stayed with her parents. But when the video went viral, Charles' family tried to find her to tell her that she was internet famous. Charles is now staying with her family again and slowly putting things back together.
“The only reason that the GoFundMe and those platforms were created were people were begging to donate to her. Once I made her Instagram, people were flooding in, saying, ‘How can I bless her? She just blessed my day so much. She just made my day.’ So the only reason it was created was so people could bless her life,” her sister Andrea told BuzzFeed.
Charles went on to explain that it was the support and well wishes that surprised her, especially the messages she has received from people who said the song was inspiring and was getting them through this difficult time.
But she is most happy to be reunited with her family, Charles said.
“It’s a lot of tears from everybody. They just want to be reassured. Because it’s been ongoing with me battling this addiction — this has been, like, six years — and they just want to be reassured that this is no more, that they don’t have to stress about where I may be. They never want me to be in the streets ever again and live that lifestyle,” Charles explained.
When asked by HuffPost why she thought the video went viral, she said the underlying message was important to so many people, especially now. She said Locklear had detained her unfairly, and she wanted him to know that.
“Know your rights. Understand your rights. Don’t take the route I took every time, but I knew my rights. In that moment I was pissed but I just wanted him to understand that he really couldn’t detain me. And also, everyone should just loosen up a bit more. Do a little dance. Everything doesn’t have to be so serious,” she said.
