By Emily R. Evans
The Truth Reporter
The highly anticipated 20th annual African American Music Fest took place at the Huntington Center on Saturday, July 19, 2025. The doors opened at 2:00 p.m. to a beautiful venue with numerous vendors, security to ensure everyone’s safety as well as the artists and a room spacious enough to seat the whole city comfortably.
Everyone made it to their seats to witness an amazing event where artists: Musiq Soulchild, Lyfe Jennings, The Zapp Band, Troop, Pokey Bear, Grammy winner Le’Andria Johnson, the Walls Group and more would grace the stage with their presence, instruments and voices, sharing unmatched energy as well as talent. The MC’s for the night kept everyone well entertained and abreast of everything that was happening for the night.
The Walls Group started the night out. Artists from Toledo played instruments with an unmatched level of experience and expertise. This is an amazing group of men that we have grown up with in Toledo who we have had the pleasure and privilege to personally see grow as men, mentors, fathers and brothers to each other.
They are truly men to look up to. They exhibit strength, loyalty, generosity and genuine respect for each other and anyone they work with. They are available for booking and can be reached on Facebook at Wall Music . They play so many instruments between them and have beautiful voices as well. Any venue would be lucky to have this band grace their stage. Toledo loves you and appreciates you Wall Music!!!
Le’Andria Delores Johnson is an American gospel singer. She was the season three winner of the BET gospel singing competition show Sunday Best. Johnson’s Sunday Best coronation song, “I Shall Leap into My Destiny,” co-written by Johnson, entered the Billboard Gospel chart at number one. Le’Andria sang “Never Would Have Made It” and “Better Days” among a few other soulful songs. The crowd all stood on their feet and rejoiced as she sang with all of her heart and came very humble and shared a real vibe with Toledo.
Born Wardell Brown in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Pokey Bear is a blues/southern soul musician known for his soulful sound and unique style. He started his career in rap before transitioning to other genres, incorporating elements of blues, jazz and funk into his music.
Pokey Bear has released several singles and EPs, including “Bump Bump Bump” (2025), “Take Dat” (2024) and “Lit” (2024) (Google). Pokey Bear had an epic performance full of life, style and an amazing and unforgettable voice. His outfit was shiny and as unique as his voice.
Troop is an American R&B/soul group from Pasadena, California. The group has had three number-one singles and 10 top-10 singles on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. Singers: Allen McNeil, Steve Russell, Reggie Warren, John Harreld, Rodney Benford All artists signed to record labels: Atlantic Records, MNRK Music Group, Bust It Records, Warrior Records.They have also completed five albums, which include three certified gold and one certified platinum album.
They have written songs we all love such as: “My Heart” and “All I Do Is Think of You,” which they performed at the festival.
Taalib Hassan Johnson, better known by his stage name Musiq Soulchild, is an American singer-songwriter. His music blends R&B, funk, blues, jazz and gospel influences fused with hip hop. He signed with Def Soul to release his debut studio album, Aijuswanaseing. Musiq has serenaded the world with hits such as “Love,” “Half Crazy,” “The Girl Next Door,” “Just Friends” and “Don’t Change,” for years. He sang so beautifully, hitting each note flawlessly and had two beautiful background singers and dancers who had angelic voices as well. They were coordinated perfectly and touched the whole crowd with their artistry.
Chester Jermaine known worldwide as “Lyfe” Jennings is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist. Lyfe was Born June 3 1978 in Toledo Ohio. Happy Belated Birthday to Lyfe.!!!
He plays the guitar, bass, and piano which he integrates into his music. Lyfe is known for songs such as “Stick up Kid,” “ Must Be Nice,” “S.E.X.,” “Hypothetically,” “CRY,” “Made up My Mind” and many more beautiful songs that he shared with the world and we, myself included, have played countless times growing up.
Zapp (also known as the Zapp Band, Zapp & Roger) is an American funk band that emerged from Dayton, Ohio, in 1977. Particularly influential in the electro-subgenre of funk, Zapp were known for their trademark use of the talk-box effect. The original line-up consisted of four Troutman brothers—frontman Roger, Larry, Lester and Terry—first cousin, Sherman Fleetwood—and non-Troutman family members Bobby Glover, Gregory Jackson, Jerome Derrickson, Eddie Barber, Jannetta Boyce and Shirley Murdock. Zapp also worked closely with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins of Parliament-Funkadelic during its early stages, their support being a factor in the group gaining a record deal with Warner Bros. Records in 1979.
Zapp had an amazing performance filled with beautiful lit up outfits, Afro wigs, skating, dancing, flipping, comedic gestures, laughs, memories, tears of those gone too soon, and just an overall unforgettable performance that has to be seen in person to really describe.
This performance was my personal favorite since I grew up Listening to this band as a child with my father. The voice box was his favorite and he learned the technique from this band. The art coming from this band was enough to take you back to the 90’s when when life was simple, hard and just beginning for a lot of us.
Zapp was the last but not least band. They interacted with the crowd , gave away drumsticks and a special autographed souvenir to one beautiful lady in the crowd signed by the entire band. They sang songs known worldwide such as “Computer Love,” “Doo Wah Ditty,” “I Can Make You Dance,” “I Want to Be Your man,” “Chocolate City” and many other classics we all grew up listening to.
Toledo folks were left with an amazing sense of pride just knowing some the soulful artists who performed were born in Toledo and decided to come back to share their voice with us once more.
This event set a new goal for each festival that will follow. It was a perfect night and everyone had an amazing time. I’m sure I can speak for all of us when I say we can’t wait to see the line up for next year and run this event back for years to come.
Thank you, Toledo Urban, for making this possible.
