We got to know LA-via-Abilene emcee Plato III back in 2022 when he released his debut album for Polyvinyl, The Devil Has Texas. In being a rap album released through a label that famously revolves around dilapidated two-story Midwestern emo, it’s maybe no surprise that the project featured interpolations of Modest Mouse and Daniel Johnston, as well as a feature from at least one Kinsella. Yet last year’s Grown LP pushed the envelope even further: Its center felt even more intentionally removed from hip-hop as its atmosphere felt hazier on tracks like “Stable” and its rhythms felt considerably dancier as early as opener “Good Problems.” It even closed on a solemn acoustic ballad, with guitarist Eli Winters providing warm guitar textures for Plato to sing over on “Let’s Get Old.”
After returning to the LP back in December with McKinley Dixon and Kyle Bethel in tow for a remix of the glow-funk anthem “I Want (Money),” today we’re getting a slight reworking of “Let’s Get Old” that adds an opening verse from Open Mike Eagle to the equation. “We living in a crazy world right now and the only solace I've been able to find is through love, the intimacy of shared experience, and the will to persist,” Plato shared alongside the new version of the track. “Open Mike Eagle cranked up the dystopia and the tenderness equal amounts to drive that feeling home. I added a few more Eli Winter parts in there and got out the way. The result is one of my favorite songs I've made.”
“Dystopia and tenderness” sounds about right for an OME feature. Check it out below.
