Well before A.J. Johnson was known as a life and wellness coach to the stars she was fly girl Sherane from the 1990s cult classic “House Party.”
The film’s iconic dance battle to Full Force’s “Ain’t My Type of Hype” that pit Sherene and Tisha Campbell’s character Sidney against leading men Kid ‘n Play was even choreographed by Johnson. The actress has obviously aged since the film debuted, but she has clearly not let herself go — she’s a certified personal trainer who has been serving body for decades and putting 20-somethings to shame with her surfboard abs.
Even at the age of 58 the “Baby Boy” actress boasts she can still hit every move of the popular dance scene because one, she is just that good, and two, she is the O.G. Meg Thee Stallion when it comes to having enviably strong knees.
“Yes, I can still do the ‘House Party’ dance, actually better now more than ever because I didn’t know what I was doing then,” Johnson, whose real name is Adrienne-Joi, explained to Jemele Hill on the “Jemele Hill is Unbothered” podcast. “Now I know it’s worth a million bucks if you can go down and have Meg Thee Stallion knees. So I’m like how ‘bout Megan got A.J. knees because I was down there first!” she jokingly added.
The film brought, which was written by Reggie Hudlin and based on his award-winning student film while at Harvard University, raked in $26 million at the box office, which was an enormous feat considering it was made on a budget of about $2.5 million.
“We all made four grand, and what’s interesting is that once the movie came out Burger King came and asked Play and I if we would sign the rights to one of our scenes for a commercial,” explained Johnson. In the end the low-budget film helped launch her career and earn her a big payout from the burger franchise.
“Listen, we made more money on that commercial then we made doing the movie!” Since 1990 three additional “House Party” films have been made — 1991, 1994 and 2000 — and most recently basketball star LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter’s SpringHill Entertainment company put their own spin on the film.
When asked if she would be featured in the film, Johnson said she did not receive an invite, but truthfully she would not have been interested anyway. “I just think it’s one thing to do sequels and prequels but to try to do remakes of certain things it’s kind of tough,” she explained.
In September Rotimi, who is cast in the reboot, said the film is in good hands despite some wondering if the flick would be as worthwhile as previous iterations. “We have a similar storyline a bit, but it’s just new age. It’s a fresh spin on it for sure,” he told TMZ during a video chat. “We’re not playing the same Kid and Play, but it’s like a new-age version of them but not them, if that makes sense. It’s not their sons or anything like that.”
More news from our partners:
Ex-NFL Star Teaches Current Black Athletes How to Manage Money and Not Go Broke
