A Tribe Called Quest · The Low End Theory

Scenario

Scenario is in C sharp minor at 101.7 beats per minute.

Tempo

102 BPM · Andantemedian of 147 analyses · 101.6–101.8 across the middle eight tenths

Key: C♯ minor4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
Agreement: 96%share of analyses that agreed
Analyses: 147people who ran the extractor
One beat: 590milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
Tuning: 443.8Hz · +15 cents from A 440
Dynamics: 2.54dB the level wanders from its average
Loudness: 0.973Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
Danceability: 1.338Essentia'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

147 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. All but a handful of them — 96% — put it in C sharp minor, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 147 readings; 99% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.

At 101.7 BPM one beat lasts 590 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 147.5 ms and a dotted eighth 442.5 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 50.9 BPM, counted twice as fast 203.4. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.

The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 443.8 Hz, which is 15 cents above 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 2.54 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 0.973 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 C sharp 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 C♯ minor

Each of these differs from C♯ 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 102 BPM

Note value	Beats	Milliseconds	Hertz
Whole note	4	2359.9	0.42
Half note	2	1179.9	0.85
Dotted quarter	1.5	885	1.13
Quarter note (one beat)	1	590	1.7
Quarter triplet	0.667	393.3	2.54
Dotted eighth	0.75	442.5	2.26
Eighth note	0.5	295	3.39
Eighth triplet	0.333	196.7	5.09
Dotted sixteenth	0.375	221.2	4.52
Sixteenth note	0.25	147.5	6.78
Sixteenth triplet	0.167	98.3	10.17
Thirty-second note	0.125	73.7	13.56

Half time 50.9 BPM · double time 203.4 BPM. Every row is one beat (590 ms) times the fraction in the second column.

Closest in key and tempo

Recordings in C sharp minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 102 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.

All songs in C sharp minor All songs at 102 BPM C♯ minor at 100–109 BPM A Tribe Called Quest

MusicBrainz collapses 13 recording ids into this one. Recording id edb2f3f1-9cfa-4d70-8be0-3c78da2c7b65.