Plato III (Plato The Third) – the multigenre project of LA-based and West Texas-raised rapper/songwriter Ryan Silva, has released “Stay Sane (feat. Bei Bei)” – the latest single from his forthcoming album.

The song’s meditative rhythm, constructed by producer Philip Odom (Ceremony, Militarie Gun), is graced by renowned Chinese Guzheng virtuoso and string player, Bei Bei Monter, better known as Bei Bei. The guzheng (“goo-jung” / 古筝) is a Chinese stringed instrument whose origin dates to the Qin dynasty,  roughly 2,250 years ago for those keeping track, and can have as many as 26 strings. Its classically major pentatonic tuning flourishes atop Odom’s dub-esque bass and sparse percussion, while Plato’s nimble verses softly bob and sway throughout, culminating with a hypnotic swirl that washes over the song’s coda, like waves across sand.

Speaking to the collaboration and deeper meaning behind the track, Silva shares, “One of the world’s best string instrument players doing her thing on this. One of my proudest moments. I just try to stay out the way, but really meditate on the personal toll that capitalism takes on me in a consumer culture. It’s inescapable and casts a heavy shadow. Hard to defeat, we are left with trying to maintain.”

It’s a form of survivalist mantra that is interwoven throughout Silva’s most recent works, including the bright boogie beat of “Good Problems” and its thematic partner (and visually stunning video sequel) “I Want (Money),” which will both appear on his forthcoming / TBA album, due out Fall 2025.

The song’s music video, directed by Colton Van Til for Cloudstar Pictures, was beautifully captured in Isamu Noguchi’s California Scenario, a sculpture garden based in the heart of Costa Mesa, 40 miles south of Plato’s home of Los Angeles. As Van Til explains, “it felt like the perfect setting for this piece,” adding, “I drew much of the video’s inspiration from Noguchi’s work – particularly the way the garden offers a striking sense of calm and simplicity, nestled among towering financial high-rises. That tension between serenity and surrounding pressure echoed the lyrics of Ryan’s song, which meditates on the struggle to maintain your sanity in the midst of late-stage capitalism.” 

Van Til, who also serves as the video’s Director of Photography, with the help of camera operator Isaac Bedford, calls attention to how the “garden’s strong geometric design [offers] a visually compelling mise-en-scène,” while visualizing “a compressing force that would tighten and release around the musicians, echoing both the sculptural aesthetics of Noguchi’s space and the oppressive emotional landscape Ryan raps about.”