UCLA

This thesis examines Sun City, a Las Vegas-style resort with glamorous hotels, gambling casinos, showrooms and spas surrounded by the vast poverty of Bophuthatswana, one of apartheid South Africa's so-called "homeland" regions. The apartheid regime used Sun City as a foil in the face of a world-wide boycott by offering vast sums of money to entertainers to perform there. This project specifically uses Sun City as a case study for exploring the impact the cultural boycott had on African American musicians. The post civil rights movement created a controversial rift in the black artistic community. Although Black artists were free to create and release music, the debate revolved around Black artists and fans to do the right thing, pressuring many artists not to perform in Sun City, although some did.