jane handcock

Jane Handcock is a firm believer that music found her. The five-time Emmy Award-winning artist can recall an urge to sing from just three years old, when she would watch her mother perform in the church choir. The resulting journey has been a rollercoaster that's seen her go from attending the prodigious Oakland School for the Arts to collaborating with superstars like Kelly Rowland and Teddy Riley. After being anointed "the first lady of Death Row Records" by Hip-Hop icon Snoop Dogg, the Grammy-nominated Handcock is poised to release her most accomplished effort to date with the searingly personal It's Me, Not You. 

"I always knew I wanted to be a singer even before I knew what it entailed," Handcock states definitively. However, she would suppress her gift during her early school years. "I was the artsy, eclectic girl who drew pictures," she divulges, adding that "it was easy to get teased if the majority did not swing your way." Nonetheless, her dreams refused to stay dormant. In being accepted into Oakland School for the Arts, Handcock discovered an all-important sense of community. "When I found all these kids wanting to do the same thing as me and confident in their passion, that's what set it off for me," she confides. 

Upon completing school, Handcock moved to Atlanta with childhood friend and fellow recording artist, Adrian Marcel. The relocation was an experience that taught her that nobody was coming to save her. "It was a contrast of highs and lows," she explains. While Handcock expresses gratitude for finding herself in sessions with a bevy of A-Listers, she's candid that the move was financially cumbersome. She began pushing her talents as a songwriter out of necessity. "I was writing my way out of my situation. Every session, every song was like 'I gotta get out of my situation,'" she explains. "Atlanta defined my hustle." 

The Atlanta sessions led to Handcock developing a fruitful relationship with musical impresario, Raphael Saadiq. Bonding over their shared Bay Area roots, Saadiq recognized Handcock's prolific output and singular ability to write, record and engineer her own songs. He would periodically enlist the multi-faceted talent to work on his projects. The pair would go on to collaborate on music for such hit TV series' as Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and HBO's Insecure, while Handcock continued to fervently release her own rapturously received music online. 

It was Saadiq who would ultimately make the introduction between Handcock and Tha Doggfather. After Snoop got a glimpse of Handcock's recording prowess, he was insistent that she stick with him. "I was like 'of course - it's Snoop Dogg,'" she says with a chuckle. Handcock would make notable contributions to Snoop's compilation Algorithm, convincing him that she had to join his Death Row empire in the process. Considering her union with the legendary label, Handcock states, “I have a responsibility to put out a certain quality of music and to keep upholding that name." She clearly rose to that challenge. "I can honestly say that this upcoming album is the best that I've made thus far," she announces proudly. 

Beyond offering the greatest music of her decorated career, It's Me, Not You feels like the culmination of a lifelong journey. Handcock is candid about the wave of emotions she experienced in the leadup to this project. "It was almost like a breakdown to build-up, just within myself," she divulges. "It made me look at myself in all attributes." Learning to embrace any imperfections, she defines It's Me, Not You as the opportunity to own all the elements of herself and her story - good, bad and ugly. It is that unflinching honesty that makes Handcock and this album so special. She has always been insistent that music found her - with It's Me, Not You it's inevitable that Jane Handcock will be discovered by countless others.