The FADER’s longstanding GEN F series profiles the emerging artists you need to know right now.

Cisco Swank wears an unhurried grin. You can hear it in his hopeful bars and falsetto hooks, in the motivational preachers, gospel-inspired melodies, and uplifting jazz riffs he pulls together on his debut album, More Better. And he wears the smile in person, sitting down at a smoothie shop in Brooklyn on the Saturday morning after a show to talk about his rise. “I'm like a Black, socially aware Jacob Collier who can rap,” he says, cheekily namechecking the hyper-famous British multi-instrumentalist.

More Better (out now via THANKS) is a hopeful step into adulthood. Over lo-fi, bebop-laden beats, Swank — born Francisco Haye — ponders how to stay inspired and determined through heartbreak, finishing school, and lingering indecision about his future. "Back home mom said she can see in my eyes / City full of dreams concrete but I'll see you when I look in the sky / One day I know we all gon' be alright," he raps on "If You're Out There." He sounds determined to smile through it.

Haye fell in love with jazz in his early teenage years. He was playing classical piano in the Brooklyn Youth Music Project, but in his free time, he’d use YouTube to discover the worlds of Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, and Miles Davis. He was basically indifferent to hip-hop until he heard rap and jazz come together on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, which featured Robert Glasper, Ryan Porter, and Kamasi Washington. "That was definitely a turning point," he says. "I was like, 'Alright, this is it. This is the stuff I really want to get into.' That definitely made me get more into both jazz and rapping."

Haye’s inner circle of friends is packed full of other artists, many of whom are featured on More Better. Most of them met Haye when they attended the prestigious LaGuardia High School in Manhattan, right across from Lincoln Center, the alma mater of Kelis, Nicki Minaj, and Timothée Chalamet.

Yoshi Takahashi (a.k.a. Yoshi T.), who delivers a verse on "No Funny," has known Haye since those years. "When I first met Francisco, he was such a weird kid," Takahashi says. "He was a really talented classical music-playing church-going weird ass kid, but once he graduated [from high school], he found his voice both musically and personally. He became goofy, confident, and more himself."

Haye says that having longtime friends on More Better was only natural. "Music these days is very industry-driven," he says. "I feel like I'd rather just make songs with people I mess with."

In 2018, Haye went to Boston to audition for Berklee College of Music. Playing the piano, he performed an original song as well as an arrangement of the Jerome Kern's jazz standard "All The Things You Are" in ⅞ time signature. They offered him a full-ride scholarship. "I would've never been hip to a lot of different genres of music had I not gone to Berklee," he says. "It definitely encouraged me to incorporate more alternative and indie sounds into my music. Being there at the same time as artists like Lizzy McAlpine, DOMi, and Laufey made me feel like I could for sure do this."

Meanwhile, his fellow LaGuardia peers went onto enroll in schools like SUNY Purchase, New York University, or jazz conservatories around the country. As New Yorkers tend to, those that left all made their way back to the city. Now his friends launching their careers from the place that fueled their love of music. He likens what they're doing in the local scene to what Hancock, Miles, and Dizzy Gillespie were doing in New York City in the late '50s.

"There's something special about New York," Haye says. "Something special you just can't get anywhere else. I can't think of leaving New York. A lot of this album, I was walking down these blocks or sitting on the train and I'll just hear chords and start writing bars."

Before Haye graduated in 2022, songwriter and producer Luke Titus suggested that Cisco replace Noname's keyboard player for an upcoming tour. "I told him I would drop out of school with only two months left just to play with Noname," Haye says. He went on to perform with the Chicago rapper on dates including Pitchfork Festival and her direct support slot for Erykah Badu.

But after playing shows with Noname, doing a tour with Luke Titus, and completing school, he wasn't sure what to do next. He had locked in a support tour but was discouraged when he saw how much money he was losing. It showed Cisco that despite recent successes, there was still work to be done.

Now, the album serves as a reminder to push through. "I'm mad normal and go through bad things," he says. "We've all experienced a lot of the same things and have those trials and tribulations. It's just getting through and understanding the sun will come out. It's gonna be okay."