A Tribe Called Quest · The Low End Theory

Check the Rhime

Check the Rhime is in D minor at 96.4 beats per minute.

4080120160200

Tempo

96 BPM · Andantemedian of 141 analyses · 96.1–96.4 across the middle eight tenths
Key
D minor1 flat · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement
70%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses
141people who ran the extractor
One beat
622.4milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning
436Hz · -16 cents from A 440
Dynamics
4.69dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness
0.946Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability
1.458Essentia's danceability, 0–3

Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.

What the numbers say

141 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 70% — put it in D minor, a key signature of 1 flat. The tempo printed above is the median of the 141 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 96.4 BPM one beat lasts 622.4 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 155.6 ms and a dotted eighth 466.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 48.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 192.8. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 436 Hz, which is 16 cents below concert A at 440 Hz — the sort of drift a tape machine or a slightly different mastering leaves behind. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.

The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 4.69 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.946 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.

10 other recordings here are in D minor; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.

Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.

Keys that fit with D minor

Each of these differs from D minor by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.

Delay times at 96 BPM

Note valueBeatsMillisecondsHertz
Whole note42489.60.4
Half note21244.80.8
Dotted quarter1.5933.61.07
Quarter note (one beat)1622.41.61
Quarter triplet0.667414.92.41
Dotted eighth0.75466.82.14
Eighth note0.5311.23.21
Eighth triplet0.333207.54.82
Dotted sixteenth0.375233.44.28
Sixteenth note0.25155.66.43
Sixteenth triplet0.167103.79.64
Thirty-second note0.12577.812.85

Half time 48.2 BPM · double time 192.8 BPM. Every row is one beat (622.4 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

  1. Frozen HeartCastD minor96BPM
  2. Dani CaliforniaRed Hot Chili PeppersD minor96BPM
  3. SpellboundAC/DCD minor96BPM
  4. EngelRammsteinD minor96BPM
  5. Get Another BoyfriendBackstreet BoysD minor96BPM
  6. Picture Me Rollin’2Pac feat. Danny Boy, Syke & CPOD minor96BPM
  7. Straight UpPaula AbdulD minor96BPM
  8. I'm a GunShotgun MessiahD minor97BPM
  9. WastelandBilly IdolD minor97BPM
  10. What I GotSublimeD minor96BPM

Recordings in D minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 96 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in D minorAll songs at 96 BPMD minor at 90–99 BPMA Tribe Called Quest

MusicBrainz collapses 4 recording ids into this one. Recording id 4bd3726c-c926-4637-b3b2-b5a5bf5417bf.