Peters Grad Takes Rap Industry By Storm

Molly Hanley is used to being met with blank stares when she tells people she is a singer, songwriter and…rapper.

With her flowing blond hair and bright blue eyes, she looks more like an all-American cheerleader than an up-and-coming rapper.

“Everybody really gets thrown off by the way I look,” she said.

But don’t let her girl-next-door appearance fool you. Hanley—or Molly Mawlz as many know her—is a serious rapper and R&B artist.

She has written, recorded and released a 10-song mix tape that has been downloaded thousands of times; she’s opened for a mainstream rapper; and her debut video on YouTube had more than 4,000 hits in its first week.

Did I mention she’s only been at this for a little more than a year?

All the more surprising is that Hanley didn’t set out to launch a career in the music business. After graduating from , she had plans to move to Los Angeles to attend a professional makeup school and pursue a career as a make-up artist.

“I’ve always been a creative person," she said. "In high school I found an outlet in make-up more than music. I love doing make up. I did it for school productions and modeling shoots around Pittsburgh.  

Hanley knew moving to L.A. right out of high school was not a traditional decision, but she had the passion, drive and support of her family, so she couldn’t pass it up.

But that plan changed one day when a producer approached her about recording a demo. Still a bit fearful about bucking the trend of what an R&B singer or rap artist is supposed to "look like," she decided to record a single.

The session was great, but the producer wanted to change her into a more commercial pop singer. Wanting to be true to who she is, Hanley said no and branched out on her own.

She canceled her plans to attend make-up school and decided to pursue something she loved since she was eight years old, but was too scared to admit to anyone: rap music.

“Once I started, I just dove in full steam,” she said.

Hanley started networking and leveraging the contacts she made in Pittsburgh’s entertainment industry doing make-up artistry. Soon, another producer came knocking and things took off from there. She is now working at I.D. Labs, where Pittsburgh rappers Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller have recorded.

Last year, Hanley spent six months writing—and rewriting—some 30 songs in the R&B and rap genres. That list had to be whittled down to 10 when she went into the studio and began recording.

Overcoming her fear of admitting her true passion is what led to the title song on her mix tape and debut video "Quit Bein Scared."

“Every single time people find out what I do, they don’t believe me," she said. "They call me out and put me on the spot and say ‘rap for us.’ They already don’t take me seriously because of the way I look, so I have to prove myself. I had to learn to quit being scared and show people what I could do.”

And showing her talent does not take long. Once people experience her lyrics and arrangements, they quickly become fans.

In just over a year she has developed a serious following.

She credits the Internet for allowing up-and-coming artists to get their music out to people. Gone are the days of trekking to New York in hopes of dropping a demo off at a recording studio.

Today, young artists use social media to build themselves up in hopes a label will take notice.

“People aren’t buying established artists on iTunes so they’re not going to buy my music," she said. "I’d rather get my songs out there and develop a fan base instead of making people buy my music.”

Hanley likes for people to be able to relate to what she’s saying, while still adding a unique touch of what her life is like. She wants people to not be scared to do what they want, and not worry about dealing with trying to be something they are not because it’s not popular.

“Do what you want to do," she said. "Quit being scared to let other people see who you are. We’re all individual and we need to be true to who we are.”

Hanley has been writing music and singing her entire life. Even as a preschooler, she would sing songs with her dad and his band when they were practicing. 

“His band was classic rock and oldies, artists like Van Morrison, Carole King and the Beatles, so I grew up musically well-rounded.”

But rap was always her true passion. She started rapping at age eight, and always wrote and arranged her own music. She draws inspiration from daily life, her worries, her partying and just about everything else.

Hanley wrote and did the arranging of all of the song on her mix tape, with the exception of a remix of P.Diddy’s song “Hello Gmornin.”

“I love the feeling hip-hop gives you," she said. "It’s confident and fun. It’s the kind of music you play when you’re going out to clubs to have fun. It can be poetic and emotional, but sometimes it’s mindless hip-hop that people are attracted to when you want to have something to bob your head to.”

And it’s not all gangsters and drugs either, she adds.

In addition to recording, Hanley does shows at clubs around Pittsburgh and even opened for Twista, a major label rapper who holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest rapper.

While that experience opened a lot of doors, Hanley recognizes that the music industry is a tough place to be right now. It’s not as glamorous as it seems, and it requires a lot of sacrificing.

“If you don’t believe in you, nobody else is going to," she said. "You have to come at the industry full force and say, 'this is what I have to offer, I can do it myself or I can do it with you.'”

In this business, you also have to develop a thick skin.

While her debut video on YouTube has been watched thousands of times, it’s also garnered negative and cruel comments. Something Hanley has learned to just take in stride.

“It’s my debut video," she said. "I’m going to grow from here. This is not where it ends. I definitely take in the criticism to see if I can get anything positive out of it and move forward.”

Hanley does admit that there are days where she second guesses herself, but it’s never been enough to make her walk away. Music has always been her passion, and the success she has found in such a short time is enough to show her she’s on the right track.

“I’m young and I have time, talent and energy," she said. "Plus, I’ve never ever started anything and then quit. So I feel like now that I’m so far into this, I have to succeed, there is just no other option.”

Download Molly Hanley’s music free at http://www.reverbnation.com/mollymawlz.

View Molly Hanley’s debut video Quit Bein Scared here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQFEdgx2J90.

Follow Molly on Twitter at @MollyMawlz.