Are natives able to understand Eminem-like rap music?

I think Eminem specifically is generally pretty understandable but lots of people do not understand lyrics in songs, especially the first time they hear the song.

Well, it depends on the song. There are plenty of songs from various genres I wouldn't be able to understand without looking them up. I'm defining "understand" as the pronunciation of the lyrics, not their meaning.

Not always. I need to look at lyrics to understand Guns and Ships from Hamilton. 

Most of it. Especially on the first listen, we might miss out on some individual phrases and words, but we do understand the meaning of the song in general, yes.

I think it depends on the person, people have different speeds of processing, and Eminem is sometimes kind of within the range where it might be harder for some people than others. personally I only know one Eminem song and I can't understand it.

Him, yeah and cassic rappers from the 80s, early 90 (i.e Chuck D), yeah. But modern 2010/20s rappers, no. I really struggle with the modern black American dialect and the slang words as I'm not from there. I can't understand half of what modern Grime rappers say here as I'm not from London either. "Finna", "fam", etc confuse the hell out of me.

Yes, mostly. It's fast but usually very clear. In karaoke though, I find it hard to keep up.

I can understand most of his words. I don't always know what he's talking about.

i can understand rap music, but even regular songs in english i can sometimes have trouble understanding. could be something about the enunciation lol

Eminem pronounces his words really clearly even though he’s also fast. So yes, I can understand most of what he says. But there are other singers/artists in English who are more difficult to understand.

In general, yes. In specific, listening to music when you already speak the language makes it less noticeable when you don't catch a few words since much of music enjoyment is not about the words

I think this varies a lot from person-to-person and song-to-song (and depending on if I’m *actively* listening vs. just hearing the song in the supermarket), but generally speaking Eminem is not particularly hard to understand.

Mumble rap? Not me. Eminem? Yes. Except maybe "Rap God," I can't even HEAR that fast.

For the most part. Em has good flow, enunciates well and his lyrics are pretty clever. He has this ability to rhyme words that shouldn’t be able to be rhymed. There’s a YouTube video of him basically being asked to rhyme orange (a famously unrhymable word) and coming up with a way to do it on the spot. Pretty cool to watch.

Yes but it’s not easy. Eminem enunciates clearly but he intentionally pushes the limits, speaking very fast using a lot of slang and word play and saying unconventional things. A native speaker of an American dialect can follow it, just, and there are still places where you say “wait, what!?”

Like many others are saying, Eminem: usually. He is an incredible rapper who does a very good job of enunciating. Many other rappers just mumble and I can hardly understand them no matter how many times I hear the song

Nah, not really

Most songs: Yes Rap God: No

English person here. I find him easy to understand. The only things that I’m sometimes unsure of are names of people who aren’t famous here or brand names that we don’t have here!

Nope, except for like choruses and the "easy bits", the rest comes only if I listen to it very regularly. I have songs I've listened to half my life and still don't recognize all the words.

Yes, it’s pretty easy, especially if you listen to lots of rap.

Eminem specifically is almost uncommonly easy to understand. Rapping and singing is often very difficult to understand because music is poetic, full of vernacular, and generally meant to evoke emotion rather than factually presenting information. Rappers and singers will slur, trill, yell, shriek, mumble, hum, moan, drag out syllables, eliminate syllables, add syllables, use obscure metaphors, use weird turns of phrase to force the line to fit the music, etc. Songs don’t have to fit into the way that people speak.

I don't know if I, specifically, am just dumb, but I can never understand rap. Like if it's slow enough sure, but most "fast" rap is completely incomprehensible to me. There's also the fact that I just don't like rap lol.

Nope. I usually have to look up the lyrics if they're talking fast while also having loud instruments in the background or overlapping singers. Maybe if I listen to it a dozen times and really focus, but usually I miss 20% of most lyrics.

I understand the most of words but not all the references.

It varies from person to person, and from song to song, but being unable to understand song lyrics is certainly [a common experience for native speakers as well](https://xkcd.com/1538/).

A surprising number of native english speakers do not listen to english lyrics at all when they listen to music. The number of straight weddings this summer where couples danced to "Good Luck Babe" by Chappel Roan is hilarious. Or people who never realized that "Pumped up Kicks" is about school shooters Or the number of people who didnt know that "Semi-charmed life" is about drug addiction

I try not to. It is usually juvenile and sexist.

I can, surprisingly, understand a lot of music that is crammed together. It's my hidden talent.

Except for "that" part of Rap God (that a native might still understand if they REALLY focus on listening), yes even fast lyrics are understood. Even if they're coming at you really quickly and you don't feel like you can keep up, you realize 1) That you are keeping up, and 2) It's even more impressive that somebody came up with something that flows like it does, is creative, and really hits.

Depends on which song, some are easier to understand than others. Without me is infinitely easier to understand than Godzilla.

no (native speaker by the way)

Yes

Please change your habit and tell your teacher as well. Say “native speakers” instead of “natives.” They have very different meanings.

There’s English songs (I’m a native) I’ve heard a million times and still don’t know what they’re saying, from all genres of music

After hearing the song a couple times but I never really can understand any music the 1st time I hear it bc I pay more attention to the beats and stuff. I always listen a second time and look at the lyrics and then after I understand it.

Maybe nobody understands lyrics of ‘Rapgod’.

By that definition of “understand”, as in literally just recognizing the words he’s saying? Yes. Actually process the words he’s saying, as quickly as he’s saying them? Depends on the person, personally no.