As the New Year began on January 1st, 1981, Smokey Da Bandit was delivered into this world. His uncle Arthur Williams introduced him to music at a very young age. His uncle would play music such as; N.W.A., ICE-T, ICE CUBE, D.J. QUIK, MC EIHT, SPICE 1, PRINCE and WHODINI. When he was eleven years old, his uncle was murdered. This inspired him to pursue his own ability that his uncle knew he had, to rap himself. Rap became his voice to shout out to the world his views and feelings. At this point in his life is when he and his younger brother Pac-Man formed the group “SOULJAZ MOBBIN” later on called “EMPTY SOULZ”. 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 by performing in various events and talent shows such as: the Apollo in North Chicago, IL, Waukegan, IL, and Great Lakes, IL. He has also appeared in several Afro Fest events, as well as Freak Nik 05’, Drop Squad Entertainment’s Midwest Exposure, SoRaw Inc.’s Operation Meltdown & the “Be Violence Free” event hosted by Power 92 radio station, BAD BOY SOUTH Showcase & A RUN TO THE LABEL showcase in Atlanta GA and a the list goes on. He was blessed with the opportunity to open up for industry artist such as: DO OR DIE, THE LEGENDARY TRAXSTA, JOHNNY P, BIZZY BONE, YOUNG GUNZ & PETEY PABLO, FREE of 106 & Park, GOODIE MOBB, JAH RISTA & more. Smokey has even hosted several house party events as well as his own, “Da Bandit’s Crunkfest”, at the South Side youth center in Waukegan, IL along with other charitable events such as talent shows held at the Waukegan High School in Waukegan, IL. When Smokey is not performing at local clubs or at open mic’s around the Midwest and Southern areas, you can catch him at the studio recording hot new tracks, or out in the street’s promoting ESE by selling CD’s and posting flyers. He is currently working on his third album entitled, "NEVA SATISFIED". His first album, “THE FLESH IS WEAK… THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL”, was a huge success for an underground album and gained him a lot of exposure. With hits like “SOUL SNATCHIN” and the street anthem “MY BLOCK” featuring Jimmy Bones and Chris J., Smoke created a huge buzz having people asking, “Where can I get a copy of that?” When the singles were being sold on the streets, and in various music shops, Smokey’s popularity soared and the complete album was highly anticipated by all. He followed that album up with a compilation album from his Empty Soulz Entertainment label for which is the CEO/President and head artist for, entitled "ENTER THE SOUL CHAMBERS VOL.1", which showed more spotlight on the rest of his Empty Soulz Clikk better known as the "Soul Snatchaz". His buzz grew stronger from that album, but he was not heavily featured on the album because he was focusing more of being a CEO. So Da Bandit had no choice but to follow that album up with the new hood classic, his sophomore album, "CHICAGO SYNDICATE". He even appeared on a few compilation albums such as: DRAMA F.O.E. PRESENTS… THE GO GETTA’S VOL.1 and FLAME SPITTIN’ RECORDS PRESENTS… MIDWEST HUSTLAZ VOL. 1, Block Life volumes 1 & 2 and a slew of guest appearances on other artist albums which added to his hype. Smokey Da Bandit’s future looks very promising, his flow is original and he sounds like nobody else. He is for sure an artist to watch for. So don’t sleep!!!