Eminem · The Marshall Mathers LP
The Way I Am
The Way I Am is in A minor at 172.3 beats per minute.
Tempo
172 BPM · Vivacemedian of 186 analyses · 133.4–172.3 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- A minorno sharps and no flats · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 88%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 186people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 348.2milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 434.2Hz · -23 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 3.46dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.964Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.631Essentia'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
186 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. Most of them — 88% — put it in A minor, a key signature of no sharps and no flats. The tempo printed above is the median of the 186 readings; 85% of them land within 2% of it, and the middle eight tenths of them run from 133.4 to 172.3 BPM.
At 172.3 BPM one beat lasts 348.2 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 87.1 ms and a dotted eighth 261.2 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 86.2 BPM, counted twice as fast 344.6. A score would mark that Vivace, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 434.2 Hz, which is 23 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 3.46 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 0.964 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 A 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 A minor
Each of these differs from A 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 172 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 1392.9 | 0.72 |
| Half note | 2 | 696.5 | 1.44 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 522.3 | 1.91 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 348.2 | 2.87 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 232.2 | 4.31 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 261.2 | 3.83 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 174.1 | 5.74 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 116.1 | 8.62 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 130.6 | 7.66 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 87.1 | 11.49 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 58 | 17.23 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 43.5 | 22.97 |
Half time 86.2 BPM · double time 344.6 BPM. Every row is one beat (348.2 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- The PretenderFoo FightersA minor172BPM
- Subterranean Homesick BluesBob DylanA minor172BPM
- Hey MamaDavid Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & AfrojackA minor172BPM
- MurmulloBuena Vista Social ClubA minor172BPM
- El carreteroBuena Vista Social ClubA minor172BPM
- Yassassin (Turkish for: Long Live)David BowieA minor172BPM
- StinkfistToolA minor172BPM
- Buckets of RainBob DylanA minor172BPM
- Indy KidzCage the ElephantA minor172BPM
- Walter’s WalkLed ZeppelinA minor172BPM
Recordings in A minor, ordered by how near their tempo is to 172 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in A minorAll songs at 172 BPMA minor at 170–179 BPMEminem
MusicBrainz collapses 19 recording ids into this one. Recording id 365f2bb7-7a93-44cc-9d5c-7c789a5e31a4.