Taurus/Gemini is a curious combination as it pairs the practical sensibilities of of the “Farmer” (Taurus) with the fiber optic wiring of the “Fast Talker” (Gemini). Astrologers Suzi and Charles Harvey ask this combination, “Are you a streetwise city slicker or a slow country soul tuned to the serious business of survival?” (Source) A healthy Taurus/Gemini will be both. To illustrate: using its release date as its date of birth the song “Straight Outta Compton” by the rap group NWA is a Taurus Sun, Gemini Moon. (Chart) The song depicts a group of young “streetwise city slickers” explaining how they get down to the “serious business of survival” in a manner so unapologetically truthful that a sitting vice-president of the United States took time to personally condemn the song. Nobody featured on the song is a “slow country soul” per-se but the group’s lead vocalist (Ice Cube) does warn rivals that if they “want to rumble” he’s prepared to “cook ’em up like a pot of gumbo”. (Taurus/Gemini often loves to talk about food.)

Taurus/Geminis can really excel when taking complex subject matter and articulating in a pragmatic fashion that regular people can understand. This is exactly what NWA did with “Straight Outta Compton”. Behind the bravado and braggadocio of the young men is 400 years of internalized rage that that they manged to condense down into a four minute song. Anybody interested in studying black history or the prison-industrial complex in more depth might turn to books by professors such as Angela Davis or Cornell West but the reality is 99% of the masses have neither the time or the inclination to do so. What they will do is listen to a song that makes use of the senses (Taurus) to communicate (Gemini) the feelings those books contextualize in great if prohibitive detail.

Much of the tension illuminated by “Straight Outta Compton” was the result of Ronald Reagan’s “war on drugs”, a campaign whose goal from day one was to terrorize black people. Anti-nazi campaigner Sophia Scholl is a Taurus/Gemini who also knows a few things about being the target of race based campaigns of terror. (Chart) According to her Wikipedia entry, “Scholl was a talented young painter in 1930s Germany when she met a few other so-called ‘degenerate artists’ and formed the White Rose resistance movement against the Nazis”. (Source) Like the young men depicted in “Straight Outta Compton”, Scholl was a “streetwise city slicker” who spent her final years getting down to the “serious business of survival”. In 2005 she was portrayed by actress Julia Jentsch in the film The Final Days:

Taurus’ orientation to “value” makes it the sign most associated with “dead presidents, dolla’ dolla’ bills, and dough-re-mi” while Gemini’s dexterity, deftness, and ability to make deals is why it’s the sign most associated with sales. Pair the two together and you get a Sun/Moon combination that can make a lot of money in endeavors such as media, publishing, speaking, and teaching. “Straight Outta Compton”, for instance, was the first album to go double platinum despite getting absolutely zero radio airplay. I recall a story that the group sold the album primarily out of the trunk of a used El-Camino. I haven’t been able to confirm if that is true or not but the image definitely fits this pairing’s reputation for capitalizing (Taurus) on versatility (Gemini). Whoever coined the phrase “making a dollar out of 15 cents” was quite likely a Taurus Sun, Gemini Moon.

Sophie Scholl’s pamphlets were something of a best seller too, at least in a manner of speaking. Copies weren’t sold out of the back of a used car or bootlegged at house parties like “Straight Outta Compton” but they were traded via underground exchanges and safe houses throughout Nazi Germany. Scholl’s “Leaflet #6” was even smuggled into the hands of the U.S. Army Air Corps who dropped millions of copies of it over Germany. You could even say Scholl’s “Leaflet #6” was to the world of political pamphlets what NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton” album was to the world of rap music.

Comedian George Carlin is a Taurus Sun, Gemini Moon whose stand up routines have more than a few things in common with the young men we see in “Straight Outta’ Compton”. (Chart) Like the members of NWA he wears all-black and has adopted an “earthy” version of the King’s English that makes extremely creative use of words like “asshole” and “motherfucker”. More importantly, he manages to summarize the insanity that has become the American way of life in a manner that resonates with the masses in a manner similar to what NWA did with urban issues in “Straight Outta Compton”. People who would never have the time or energy for a Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn book can watch one of Carlin’s routines and walk away with a similar if condensed take on socio-political issues.

Comedian Stephen Colbert is also a Taurus Sun, Gemini Moon. (Chart) Colbert and NWA would certainly have a lot to talk about because, like NWA, Colbert knows what it’s like to have the office of the president on his ass. In 2006, his “roast” of Bush at the White House correspondents dinner was so blistering it had people seriously wandering if he was going to show up dead. A number of Bush’s “enemies” such as author James Hatfield had recently met their demise under extremely suspicious circumstances so the concern wasn’t totally unfounded either. (Source) On a metaphoric level, you could say Colbert arrived at the dinner “ready to rumble” then proceeded to “roast Bush up like a pot of gumbo”:

Like “Straight Outta Compton”, a number of Colbert’s enterprises have also become multimedia best sellers. His show The Colbert Report is one of the most watched shows on television while YouTube videos like his “roast” of Bush have stirred up as much controversy as “Straight Outta Compton” did almost 25 years ago. Something similar can be said about the songs of folk singer Harvey Andrews, also a Taurus/Gemini native. (Chart) According to the Wikipedia entry for Andrews, “his 1972 song ‘Soldier’ transmits the quiet desperation of a soldier about to die a senseless death.” (Source)

The solider in Andrews’ song is about to die in an blighted urban setting in Northern Ireland, a piece of geography that is to the British military what the city of Compton, California is to the LAPD. Like the lucidly honest scenes transmitted in “Straight Outta Compton”, Andrews’ “Soldier” is based on a true story. (Source) Like “Straight Outta Compton”, getting banned from the airwaves didn’t stop it from resonating with whoever heard it.

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