JAMAICAN dub poet Malachi Smith is billed to perform at the African Caribbean Diaspora Presidential Inauguration Ball on January 21 in Washington, DC.

The gala is one of many events marking President Barack Obama's inauguration that day in the American capital.

Obama was re-elected to a second term on November 6.

"I will be the first Jamaican dub poet to perform at a US presidential inauguration ball. I am extremely humbled and gratified," Smith told the Jamaica Observer.

The event takes place at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill. Smith said he was asked to perform at the event by Jamaica's Honorary Counsel Mrs Beryl Walters-Riley.

The Miami-based Smith is a graduate of Florida International University, Miami-Dade College and Jamaica School of Drama. He is a founding member of Poets In Unity, a critically acclaimed ensemble that brought dub poetry to the fore during the late 1970s.

The Westmoreland-born Smith has released a number of albums, among them Middle Passage, Throw Two Punch, The Sweeter The Berry, and his most recent, Hail to Jamaica which came out in 2010.