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. Her Mom’s response to this early gravitation was "as long as you can keep up, you can sing."Rising to that challenge, Handcock has spent a lifetime immersed in her passion. 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. Having now been anointed "the first lady of Death Row Records" by Hip-Hop icon Snoop Dogg, Handcock is poised to release her most accomplished effort to date with the searingly personal It's Me, Not You. "I'm going to talk about myself before I give anybody else a platform to do so," the Grammy nominee reasons, and the resulting albumlays her artistic soul bare.

Handcock grew up in the Bay Area and has childhood memories of clutching a spoon like it was a microphone. "I always knew I wanted to be a singer even before I knew what it entailed," she states definitively. However, she would suppress her gift during her turbulent 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. By the time she was fifteen, she was already singing in local clubs as a means of fulfilling her desire to perform. In being accepted into Oakland School for the Arts, Handcock discovered a crucial 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.

Handcock would flirt with going to college upon completion of school, but music's allure proved too strong. She continued performing locally, but pressure was mounting from her family to figure things out. Intent on making a drastic change, Handcock moved to Atlanta with childhood friend and fellow recording artist,Adrian Marcel. As she tells it, the relocation was an experience that taught her that nobody was coming tosave her. "It was a contrast of highs and lows," she explains. While Handcock expresses gratitude for finding herself in sessions with a host 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 outof my situation. Every session, every song was like 'I gotta get out of my situation,'" she explains. "Atlanta defined my hustle.”

While Handcock would eventually depart Atlanta and return to The Bay, by this time she had developed a fruitful relationship with musical impresario Raphael Saadiq. Building kinship over their shared Bay Area roots, Jane recalls Saadiq predicting that she "was gonna rise above everybody." Recognizing Handcock's prolific output and singular ability to write, record and engineer her own songs, Saadiq would periodically enlist the multi-faceted talent to work on his projects. The pair would ultimately collaborate onmusic 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 music online.

It was Saadiq who would ultimately forge the introduction between Handcock and Tha Doggfather. After Snoop was able to get a glimpse of Handcock's studio prowess, she recalls the Death Row mogul advising her to 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 the revamped Death Row's roster. Considering her position at the forefront of the legendary label's reemergence, Handcock states, "I look at it as a responsibility, to where I have a responsibility toput out a certain quality of music and to keep upholding that name." A self-professed "lone wolf" in her creation process, Handcock credits Snoop with bringing her out of her shell. "I can honestly say that this upcoming album is the best album that I've made thus far," she states proudly. "It raised the standards for me.”

The high benchmark is evident when listening to the album. It's Me, Not You is a stirring tour de force anchored by Handcock's hypnotic, commanding vocals. The brassy "Sorry" captures the push-and-pull dynamic of a dramatic relationship as Handcock's soulfully decries how "it's crazy when you're gone - I hate it when you leave" over suitably punchy drums. The breathy "Same Old Love" yearns for the comfort of a trusted partner, with Handcock's vocals floating over the subtle groove as she coos "your love for me keeps me strong, keeps me holding on." The songstress is expertly paired with BJ The Chicago Kid over the lush collaboration "You," a smokey ode to the type of bond that endures through thick and thin."Sometimes you give me the blues, but ain't nobody in this world quite like you," Handcock professes powerfully, with BJ reciprocating as his vocal quivers "sometimes you get on my nerves, sometimes this real shit hurts 'cause it's only one you." The track culminates with rich harmonizing between the two, andis indicative of It's Me, Not You as a whole. This is refined, elegant R&B that retains a savvy connection to present times through Handcock's skilled songwriting.

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 atmyself in all attributes." Learning to embrace any imperfections, she defines It's Me, Not You as theopportunity 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.