Comics Culture as a Precedent World of Russian Rap

Abstract

The article represents an experience in interpreting Russian rap in terms of precedentiality. The texts of comics culture are considered as precedents, namely numerous Anglo-American works published in the form of graphic novels (comics), then films, computer games, as well as various visual materials (advertising posters, placards) and plastic toys. As a result, a number of universes have been introduced into the cultural circulation of a modern man in which superheroes, their retinues and antagonists operate, as well as those whom these superheroes with their supernatural abilities protect. It is shown that the precedent world of comics culture in Russian rap is manifested in onomasticon and rap texts. About a dozen names of rappers and bands are given, whose nicknames refer to the culture in question, the motives for their choice are analyzed, how they are explained by their bearers, for example, the history of the nickname Scryptonite. The analysis of rap texts has allowed to identify those features of comics culture that are reflected in them in the form of precedent phenomena, including the chronotope, the circle of characters and the objective world. It is shown that their presence in the texts of Russian rap solves a number of stylistic problems; elements of the precedent world act as standards of various properties, qualities, and atmosphere. The presence of this precedent world in Russian rap expands its linguistic and cultural horizons and promotes the realization of creativity characteristic of Russian rappers. It is emphasized that comics culture as a precedent world coexists in Russian rap along with other cultural worlds — Russian poetry, ancient mythology, technology, sports, etc., which makes it a reflection of modern culture and at the same time a means of its complexity and polyphony.