You know, I did records by myself and I always will say the Isley Brothers, and featuring Ronald. I won't, you know, just, I won't try to deviate from the Isley Brothers, because that's what the family dream was all about.
The Isley Brothers, there's a group that stays together because they're a family band.
I would probably keep it old school with The Isley Brothers. Their music relaxes me and I can listen to it all day.
I know who Michael Jackson is, I know who Prince is, I know the Isley Brothers, all that. Still, I got my own thing going with this music.
My pops and my mom started playing Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers and all these people, but at the same time, they always had Snoop on right behind it in the same mix.
It's no surprise to me or the other Isley brothers that I can sing, because I used to sing all the time in practice. The surprise is that somebody else likes it.
My parents only played Isley Brothers, Marvin Gaye. That's when New Kids came out, and we wanted to jam that. My mom was like, "Put that thing off and put my damn record on". So from old school to '90s to recent, it's just always been there.
My parents were fairly young in the city of Compton. So the things that they played - you know, that was the hip crowd. So I was being exposed to all these ideas, from Big Daddy Kane to Eazy-E to the Bay Area - Too Short, E-40 - you know, back to Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers.
What's important is that people realize that I can't be put into a box musically. I've studied all forms of music; I know probably more Jay-Z songs than the biggest Jay-Z fan. I've studied R. Kelly to the Isley Brothers to Stevie Wonder to Sting and Sade. You don't have one personality every day. You don't have one mood.
Blues artists now try and stay in a box. Back in the day at all the clubs you would see James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, The Isley Brothers, Little Richard and Etta James all play the same venues. It was a mix of funk, soul, blues and rock 'n' roll.
When I do listen to music a lot of times I listen to old school music, I'm talking about Earth, Wind & Fire, I'm talking about the Isley Brothers, the O'Jays. It just eases my mind.
My pops put me on to Jay-Z and Kanye, and my discoveries would be like Future and Kendrick Lamar. I turned my pops on to Kendrick, Young Thug. I feel my mom made me play the Isley Brothers and real, real old music.
R&B stations don't say 'We have old school artist Ronald Isley in the house.' They say 'We have the legendary Ronald Isley.' But if I come do an interview, they're gonna say 'We have old school rapper Big Daddy Kane in the house.' We belittle ourselves, our music and our culture. It's hard for a lot of legendary artists in hip-hop to overcome.
Slash, Axl, Duff, Izzy and I are all brothers. Axl and his lawyers cannot take away what we had. As long as we are alive, we have it. We are brothers and what do brothers do? We fight. I may not like them all the time, but I will always love them.
I thank you, dear Brothers, for preaching the love of Christ and exhorting your people to tolerance, respect and love of their brothers and sisters and of all persons. In this way you exercise the prophetic ministry that the Lord has entrusted to the Church, and in particular to the Successors of the Apostles (cf. Pastores Gregis, 26).
I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned.