Recording
Throw the D
2 Live Crew
Independently chosen for3 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.
- Released
- 1986
- Label
- Luke Skyywalker
- On
- Miami Bass, Miami, and The Eighties
- Updated
- 2026-08-31
Analysis
7 sections, no single moment the energy jumps to.
- Tempo
- 123 BPM
- holds throughout
- Key
- Ab minor
- estimated from the pitch content
- Dynamic range
- 2.3 dB
- compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud
- Length
- 3:10
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintro0
- 0:32Bpeakbar 17
- 0:46Abreakdownbar 23
- 1:03Bpeakbar 32
- 1:33Csteadybar 48
- 2:03Dbreakdownbar 63
- 2:21Eoutrobar 72
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:32
- Energy
- 71
- Brightness
- 33
- Density
- 23
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:13
- Energy
- 96
- Brightness
- 48
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · sung · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:18
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 92
- Density
- 55
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 2 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:30
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 53
- Density
- 84
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:31
- Energy
- 75
- Brightness
- 97
- Density
- 35
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:18
- Energy
- 36
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 13
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:49
- Energy
- 19
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- outro
- the closing fall
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Miami Bass
The record that set the template and started the call-and-response tradition of answer records. Crude by design, and the 808 is mixed louder than the vocal on purpose.
Picked by Miami
The template every record below is a variation on: an instruction, a call-and-response, and the 808 louder than the voice giving it. Luke Campbell put it out on his own label because no one else in the country was going to.
Picked by The Eighties
Luke Campbell named the label after himself because there was no other way to release it, and later took its obscenity case to a federal appeals court. The most literal instance here of a scene having to build its own way out.