January 1st, 1981, Terrell J. McSee was born in Waukegan, Illinois. When he was eleven years old, his uncle was murdered. Music became his voice to shout out to the world his views and feelings. In 1994 Smokey moved from the Lake County Area to Chicago’s South Side and started running reckless in the streets with some of his closest friends. Music was his savior. After a couple of “wrong turns”, Smokey decided to stay focused on his music more and began hitting the studios hard and achieving real accomplishments. Since then Da Bandit has created a buzz in the streets with his music and by performing in various events & Open Mics. He was blessed with the opportunity share the same stage with many mainstream industry artist. He has even hosted several party events as well as his own “THE WRITER’S BLOCK” Open Mic Events. Smokey, who is CEO of Empty Soulz Ent. and has been an independent artist & label since 2005 and has an amazing catalog of music has 6 Mixtapes available on Datpiff.com and has become hands on in videos as well directing a few short films & his own music video's. 
 Smokey is affiliated with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (Mo Thugs/Flesh-N-Bone Global) & tours with them periodically. 
 Smokey is a 3x Chicago Music Awards Winner (2017 Best New Entertainer, 2019 & 2022 for Best Urban Indie Entertainer) & just recently released his 6th solo album “JUVY WORLD” dedicated to his slain cousin, available for downloading/streaming on all digital platforms.