11.11.10 - 8:30AM
- by
Jason Newman

Jimmy 'Rent Is Too Damn High' McMillan's Debut Musical Performance and Interview (VIDEO)

"I'm glad people have a new hero," Jimmy McMillan tells Urlesque during our interview with the former gubernatorial candidate and founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party. "Once it was The Beatles. Once it was Michael Jackson. Now it's my time to shine. Let the Christmas ornament at the very top be my head. Every child is my child and Daddy is here."

Ever since his appearance at the 2010 New York Gubernatorial Debate, McMillan's unique ideas and outsized personality have made him an Internet star. McMillan's outlandish appearance augments a basic principle that all New Yorkers and tenants everywhere can rally around: The Rent Is Too Damn High.

But while most people know Jimmy McMillan as a gubernatorial candidate, music aficionados will recognize him as 1970s soul singer Jimmy Mack, who had a hit with "A Woman Is So Hard to Understand." McMillan has gone back to his musical roots and released "The Rent is Too Damn High (Volume 1)," a self-produced album focusing on his favorite hot-button topic. (The album's song titles include "When You Can't Pay Your Rent," "Landlord Listen Up" and the new holiday classic "Rent Party Christmas.")

Jimmy McMillan Interview During our 30-minute interview, McMillan alternated between serious political candidate and animated raconteur. He's happy to use his newfound fame as a springboard to talk about serious issues like improving New York's economic condition, but is also quick to flash a smile at the camera and discuss why dating is so difficult (hint: it involves rent). Below, McMillan talks about his new celebrity status, his budding martial arts skills and shows us the most mind-blowing tattoo we've ever seen (second hint: it also involves rent).

McMillan was nice enough to give his first-ever live performance -- a smooth, sexy slow jam about "doing it" called "My Place" -- at Urlesque's AOL Studios. And if you think this song has nothing to do with rent, just remember: You can't bring someone back to your place if you can't afford the rent and you can't afford the rent because...well, you know the rest.