The suburbs have always been considered as a safe-haven—far from the inner city and all the trouble that usually comes with it. Where the biggest problem is most likely stopping high school kids from smoking marijuana on their parents’ porches, as opposed to hanging out on “the block” where street corner tales occur, and they never have a happy ending.

It’s always the tough guy image that most artists strive for in order to be accepted in a society that thrives on hardships and despair. Getting shot went from being taboo to being the norm, with more and more rappers glorifying their bullet wounds rather than trying to stand alone. Even those that come from a somewhat nice background do everything in their power to conceal it just to portray a rough and made-up existence some publicist scripted out for them.
 
As for the South New Jersey-based group DaCav5, they have the opposite problem because they embrace their suburban roots to the fullest extent with their talents. The quartet consisting of B-Roc, Mike-EEE, Benofficial, and Mikey-P (MTV’s From G’s To Gents) enter the music industry with a unique sound all their own, while not shying away from their upbringing. Founding members B-Roc and Benofficial first met in school where they would ultimately meet the final components needed to complete the conundrum. Their debut alb um Guilty Pleasure comprised of up tempo dances tunes that are a far cry from the triple beams, Heckler & Koch’s, and True Religion Jeans with an abundance of cash falling out of the front pockets. This 4-man team is more than comfortable in their own skin, now lets see if that sets a trend for others to follow in their footsteps. 

Sixshot.com: How did you guys first meet up?
 
B-Roc: We all met up in high school, Ben and I started the group. As the years went by, we came across talented singers and rappers so we decided to put everything together. From there, we got a Myspace page and everything just started to take off. 

Sixshot.com: Does if ever get conflicting at times since you all come from different musical backgrounds?
 
B-Roc: It was very conflicting in the beginning, because we’d have one guy that would want to rap street stuff, then we’d have someone else that would want to do battler-rapper stuff, and we’d have somebody else that would want to do mainstream. But as we went on, we finally found our fan base, and they pretty much picked our sound for us. So now we just make the music for them, which is basically mainstream up-tempo Hip-Hop. Sometimes we’ll just take it back to the roots and do true Hip-Hop stuff, because we can get lyrical whenever we want to.
 
Sixshot.com: So is that how would you describe your style to people that weren’t familiar with your movement?
 
B-Roc: I would just describe it as eclectic, you know? We do everything across the board—I’m a marksmen. If you tell me where to shoot, I’m going to shoot. We can shoot from mid-range, long-range, short-range is doesn’t matter because we’ve been doing it for years. We like everybody from Linkin Park all the way down to Lil Wayne. So we do everything across the board because we’re influenced by a lot of artists in the industry.
 
Sixshot.com: Speaking of musical influences, was there a big music scene growing up in South New Jersey?
 
B-Roc: It’s not that big of a music scene, but we’re on the outskirts of Philly; and their music scene is way bigger. But I do think people from the suburbs are more creative than people that just grow up in a ‘hood, and that are just doing stuff for the streets.
 
SixShot.com: What can people hear from your album, Guilty Pleasure?
 
B-Roc: They’re going to hear nothing but bangers. We took extra time to make sure that we have everything right, so it’s going to be nothing but Top 40 and up tempo party anthems.
 
Sixshot.com: You opened for acts like the Pussy Cat Dolls, and Alicia Keys, and Maroon 5. How was that experience like for you guys?
 
B-Roc: It’s crazy because we’re an unsigned band, and to throw us on the same bill as The Jonas Brothers, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and Danity Kane is just crazy. These are artists that we already listen to and look up to, and it’s just overwhelming to actually be on the same stage with them, on the same night performing, and performing for the same crowd.
 
SixShot.com: Also, Mikey P from your group was one of the contestants on the MTV Reality Show, From G’s To Gents. Did his appearance on the show bring more exposure to “DaCav5” as a whole?
 
B-Roc: It helped out a little bit, but some people were giving him bad exposure because they were saying that he wasn’t a G. But what people don’t know is that MTV actually contacted him for the show, he never went out for the show; they contacted him. They were saying that he would be perfect for the show, and how he should go through the casting process for the possibly to be on the show. But we got some good feedback and some bad feedback, but publicity is publicity.
 
It did help a little bit though, because our hits on the Myspace page did go up a couple hundred more when he was on the show. Myspace is like the new thing now, and everybody is on Myspace… [Laughing] We got 45,000 fans in less than two years, and we have three million plays. We have fans all the way in Japan that hit us up, so without Myspace none of this would be possible. I’d like to send a big shout-out to Tom… [Laughing]
 
Sixshot.com [Laughing] As you mentioned earlier about being an unsigned band; what’s the most difficult part about that situation?
 
B-Roc: I feel like the most difficult part is just listening to the garbage that’s on the radio, and just knowing that your stuff is way better. It’s difficult just being in the suburbs as well, because no one wants to give the people from the suburbs a chance. All the A&R’s are looking in the streets for the next big thing, not the suburbs. It’s difficult, but all we have to do is standout, do our own thing, and hopefully that works.
 
Sixshot.com: Is there any route you guys would like to take? Like indie versus major? Or are you guys content with what comes your way?
 
B-Roc: Honesty, I’m just content with where ever the money is. The music and the image is going to sell itself, I’m just trying to make some money off of my mouth; no homo… [Laughing]