Plato III – Let’s Get Old Remix (feat. Open Mike Eagle, Eli Winter)

Texas-born, LA-based rapper Plato III has had a fascinating run on Polyvinyl. Last year’s Grown moved intentionally away from straight hip-hop with hazier atmospheres on tracks like “Stable”, dancer rhythms from the jump on opener “Good Problems”, and a closing acoustic ballad. Where guitarist Eli Winter laid down warm guitar textures for Plato to sing over.

That closer, “Let’s Get Old”, now gets a reworking with verse from Open Mike Eagle added to the equation. It’s the second remix from Grown — back in December, Plato reworked “I Want (Money)” with McKinley Dixon and Kyle Bethel turning its subtle meditation on cash into a more direct statement on wealth inequality. Where that one amped up the energy, this one deepens the quiet. Winter’s guitar parts have been expanded, and OME brings exactly what you’d expect — equal parts dystopia and tenderness, as Plato himself put it.

“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 release. “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”.

Hard to argue with that assessment. Two sharp lyricists trading verses over gentle guitar work, making a case for growing old together as both refuge and resistance.