A decade on the mic

Darryl Granum’s teenage nephews had dreams of becoming hip hop stars in 2005, and he wanted to help them. He set up a small studio in his home and produced a beat for them, eventually recording the boys’ first song. Ten years later, his studio is a thriving business in the village and is looking to expand.

“It actually all started because my nephews wanted to be the next Jay-Z,” said Granum, owner of Strong Side Studios, at 27 E. Merrick Rd. “So it was really for them, and it really dominoed from wanting to help them and other kids — their friends who would be in the studio all the time.”

While his nephews moved on from their rap star dreams, Granum, who lives in Valley Stream, decided to keep the studio going. He bought a small space on Merrick Road for its first location, just down the street from his current studio. The recording booth was tiny and the building was not air conditioned, earning the nickname “the sweatbox” among the musicians who recorded there.

Granum upgraded and moved to a larger space on Rockaway Avenue. He began offering new services that he said have been key to keeping the business alive: the studio had a small dance floor, and he welcomed a local Girl Scout troop for a dance class. The girls loved it, and Granum saw the potential for more business. He partnered with Joanne Cuomo to offer dance and fitness classes, and started looking for a bigger space.

“When I first met him, he was the assistant coach of his daughter’s basketball team, and my daughter happened to be on the same team, and I was begging him to become a head coach in the league,” Cuomo said. After the two began coaching a team together, she offered to help with dance classes and parties, using her knowledge of the catering and party business. “Since then, I’ve pretty much worked every party that’s come in, taught dance and fitness classes and really been a partner with him.”

After more than a year on Rockaway Avenue, Granum moved the studio to its present location on East Merrick Road. The space, the largest yet, boasts a dance studio, recording and producing stages and a lounge where the studio hosts events like karaoke and open mic nights.

The business added fitness classes two years ago. Each week, Granum, Cuomo and their staff offer fitness boot camps and lessons in yoga, zumba and kettle ball training, along with more unusual exercise classes like koga, or hybrid yoga and kickboxing lessons. The studio also hosts children’s birthday parties. Thinking creatively and allowing the business to evolve is what Granum said has kept it alive.

“The recording is always going to be the foundation, because that’s what I started with, but I have to understand that a lot of up-and-coming artists don’t have the budget to record on a regular basis,” he said. “They sit down to pay their bills and say, ‘I have to pay for my lights, I have to pay my rent, I have to pay for food. I can’t go to the studio right now,’ so that’s an unstable place to be at, so I had to find other things to do.”

He said he is thankful for the success he’s found.

“The secret is that people believe in me,” he said. “I had a lot of friends that supported me, and it’s [about] never giving up. Even when I fell behind, I would climb my way back up. I don’t take no for an answer. I’ve been really humbled. I’ve had to realize that I can’t do it all…I never knew how to let people help me — I was always someone to do for people rather than to have people do for me.”

Despite the success, Granum still works a day job with a water filtration company. He said he is committed to the job, but dreams of making Strong Side Studios his full-time occupation.

“I used to work for Terminex…and one of the things I hated was putting on a shirt everyday that said the name of someone else’s business,” he said. “I want to put on a shirt everyday that says ‘Strong Side Studios’…I’ve made a joke before that if you cut my vein open, little S’s would fall out. People ask me ‘what do you mean,’ and I say Strong Side Studios, it’s really that deep. I couldn’t do that for another Terminex or another company. It’s only this.”