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I am Neto Meeks, I am a Dub poet, one third of the group Royal African Soldiers. WE ARE ALL 'AFRO-JAMAICANS'.BASED IN JAMAICA, DOING THE WORKS ordained for us by the King of Kings Haile Sellassie I. Live up, love life, man, 'wombman' and child. word sound create the power through Action. progress by any means nessecary; "Rise or Die". More life. I would like to meet all strong brothers and beautiful intellegent sisters who are not taking any shorts to their progress and upliftment. Unity is strength, diversity gives life colour and brings joy. All reggae, dancehall, hip hop and 'word sound' (performance poetry)fans, artists and especially promoters, producers.Generally, I like Dub poetry, reggae, hip hop, martial arts, nature, reading, African Culture and history, video production and beautiful black women. I like music by Bob Marley and the Wailers, Buju, Sizzla, Capleton, Jr Gong, 2pac, Nas, Lauren Hill, Tracy chapman, Royal African Soldiers and many many more. My favourite movies are Ong Bak, Shottas, Belly, Malcom X, Harder They Come and others. I like to watch music videos, the news and other things like the National Geographic channel, Animal planet etc, not really a big t.v. fan. My favourite books arethe Autobiography of Malcom X, Philosphies and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Speeches of His Imperial Majesty Haile Sellasie I, Diary of Che Gueverra, The Lord of the Rings and many others. My heroes who have inspired me in some way are Haile Sellasie I, Marcus Garvey, Bob marley, Malcom X, Che Gueverra, Peter Tosh, 2pac, Kalonji and I Mother...: HIS WALK is almost laconic. Moving with a slight bop, as though he has no worries in the world, and nowhere to go. However, once he gets on stage a different side comes through. Armed with a keen sense of rhythm and socially conscious lyrics Neto Meeks has been cutting his path through the local poetry scene.His poetic style executes the balancing act between rap and poetry, Meeks has been establishing himself as a poet of style and content, who seems to be after far more than glitz and glory. Interestingly, he did get drawn toward his rapping style in search of some attention.Though he began writing at an early age, even trying to create comic books, Meeks explained that while at high school in Antigua he tried rapping because he realised that the rappers got the girls. However, straight rap was not for him. "I love rap, but I never wanted to be a rapper because me want to connect to mi roots still," he said.When he's not creating poetry, Neto is engaged in a range of exploits. Though he is technically trained as an Audio Visual technician, he is also engaged in farming and karate. He and his mother own a farm in St. Mary, and he explains that it is a part of their attempt to claim that prodigal "40 acres and a mule" that was promised at the end of slavery. He explains that as he mainly had an urban upbringing, farming is something of a challenge.EXPLORING KARATEInterestingly, it was the challenges of urban life that led Meeks into exploring karate. "I just reached a stage where I needed to have some discipline and it was either that or the military," he says. He has been studying the martial art for five to six years. He is a first degree black belt and is hoping to go for his instructorship. His need for structure came as he watched his friends go to their early demise as they strayed "from the well trodden path" coming to violent ends.At the time, though he was enrolled at the University of the West Indies, he spent more time outside of class than inside. Two of his poems, 'Cruisin Up the Waltham' and 'I Had to Let You Know' reflect this period in his life.Neto explains that 'I Had to Let You Know' with the refrain that speaks of the possibility of ending on "death row" as the way he sees life. "That's just my philosophy. I just give thanks for life, because wherever I am at, it could be worse," he says. "I don't really look at life in terms of having regrets because I learn a lot."Now that time has passed and the change is symbolised by the gorgeous mane which now crowns his head. "It was just a vibration thing," he says. "The more I started to ras, the more I started to feel comfortable with myself."Along with four other poets, under the banner Multicast Poets, Meeks work is now available on an album by the same name. Ras Takura, Ginsu, Marsha Hall, and Steppa are the other poets in the Multicast group.According to Meeks, the Multicast poets aim to take 'word, sound power' from the artistic backburner and display its importance as an artform. "It start a'ready," he says, "but we a go resurrect it more."He says that as a result, the group's poetry is two-fold as it will try to advance society and the poets themselves. "We might always preach to you, or beat you over the head, so we want to put something in there that uplifts you," Neto says of the group of poets.POETRY IS PERSONALHe explains that for him, poetry is always personal, and he does not believe in art for arts sake. "I have to feel an emotion to write about it. Even if its not personal, I make it personal," he says. Even so, it is not often that he writes about truly personal matters, but when he does it makes a difference. "When I'm brave enough to express what is personal to me, I think the best of my writing comes out."blog Layouts