“Cornell Dining” hat perched above his genial, unassuming grin, food service worker Apia Awa mans the Okenshields salad bar, keeping the lettuce, corn and beets refreshed to the tempo and rhythm of the mid-day lunch rush. 

Just a few hours later, Awa maintains the beats of a different set of tables. Now sporting a backwards Rockawear hat, Awa, or D.J. Double A, mixes, scratches and spins turntables for The Gunpoets — an Ithaca-based, seven-man rap band that sounds like a cross between The Roots, Common and Sublime.

Rehearsing in the basement of the father of lead guitarist Eliot Rich, the band — which includes Awa, Cornell music major Mike Hunter ’05 and Rich, whose father taught in the School of Industrial Relations — the band is calm and relaxed as they review their set for Friday’s show at Castaways, the band’s “home-turf.” 

One of the obvious difficulties of a seven-man band is getting the whole band to play together; yet, as they talk, it’s clear the band has figured out giving everyone their share.

Stuck over what to perform after their “Nine to Five,” the band members exchange quizzical looks.

Luckily, second rapper Joshua “Jayhigh” Higgins has an idea. “… And then I’ll whip my dick out!” he yells.

Colin “Smitty” Smith (keys and vocals) looks at Higgins skeptically. “Hey, I’m not pulling my penis out until we get way more famous,” he jokes back.

Not that the band hasn’t already enjoyed quite a bit of success and fame. In July, the Ithaca natives rocked a crowd of thousands at the Grassroots Festival, shortly after the release of their newest album, Shoot the Stars (now available on iTunes).  IthacaMusic.com recently named the Gunpoets its new favorite band. 

This summer the band, for the first time, went on tour together — a trip that included stops at Dublin Underground in Rochester, the Shrine in Harlem, N.Y. and Ohio State. 

Still, the band has not quite yet hit it big, and is looking to get its name out.

“Not a lot of drugs and sex [on the trip],” Higgins says, “[more like] sleeping in tents and on people’s couches.”

And then there was Al Green, says lead rapper and, if there is one, band leader Dan “Rising Sun” Lisbe with a rueful laugh.

Al Green?  “Dan was attacked by a cat [named Al Green] at five in the morning” in an Albany house where the band was staying, guitarist Michael Hunter explains.

Touring was “great” since people were “really supportive of what we were doing,” Higgins says.  And then on second reflection he adds: “well maybe not … guys tried to bang Eliot [Rich].”

Yeah? “I’m not giving that story up,” Rich says.

All the band members have full time jobs elsewhere, such as Hunter ’05 who works at Stella’s.

Their struggles come through powerfully in the chorus of “Nine to Five”: “I can’t find it no more/It’s what we do to survive/Grindin’ on a Nine-to-Five.”

Awa said that his full-time job at Cornell is what allows him to pursue his career as a D.J. — since Cornell provides a “solid foundation,” with “really good coverage” and benefits, particularly dental.

Awa said that, in the band, “we’re all struggling” to get by monetarily, and that “[we] have to make serious adult moves.”

Who are the Gunpoets?  “I just put the definition into Urban Dictionary,” Rich explains, as “One who uses music and poetry as a weapon to spread peace, love and happiness.”

The band’s name means, “My mic is my gun,” rapper Lisbe says.  “Everybody’s instrument is their gun … Our music is positive, [about] social justice and politics.”

The Gunpoets see themselves as the logical progression in the field of rap, away from demos and samples and towards a full band’s support of the rapper. Lisbe said that rapping in front of a full band is like being a “kid in a candy shop,” and that rapping for the band is “so much fun.”

Awa said he has also given some of his C.D.s to students, and gotten positive feedback.  He and the Gunpoets said they are looking to “break into the Cornell scene,” and are eager to play at fraternity parties.

“He’s amazing,” said Eric Pettaway, who works with Apia at Okenshields and has gotten a chance to see D.J. Double A perform. “He’s always making everyone smile.”

Although Awa said Okenshield’s Happy Dave “keeps a tight ship” and that he respects Dave’s music taste, Awa sometimes plays his own music at the salad bar.

“Please don’t tell Dave,” he asked.

Locked in concentration like a marksman on his prey, DJ Double A bobs back and forth slowly, perfectly timing the looped-in effects from RJD2’s Ghostwriter with Colin Smith’s keys and Michael Smith’s bass.  

He looks over to Rich, who has thrown his head back as his guitar climbs higher and higher — and then to Lisbe, whose eyes are shut, perhaps in imagination of a crowd ahead.

The song winds to a close, and Higgins looks up at the whiteboard, half-mapped with Friday’s set.  

“What we really need here is a medley,” Higgins says.

“Yeah, if only we had a second medley then we’d be a good band,” Smith responds.  The band erupts into laughter — they know it’s already true. 

The Gunpoets perform at Castaways this Friday night on their “home-turf.”