Nicki Minaj is a ''disciplined'' artist.

The 34-year-old rapper has been credited as a hard-working and focused musician by music producer Diplo, who has recently been collaborating with the 'Superbass' hitmaker on new music after trying to work with her for ''a couple of years''.

Speaking to Zane Lowe, the 'Lean On' hitmaker said: ''I was working on some stuff for her record. The timing was right. I've been trying to get Nicki to do something with us for a couple years now.

''She wrote 16 different verses for this song. She's so inspired. It's crazy. I've never had an artist be so disciplined on cutting a song.''

And Diplo - whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz - has continued to praise Nicki as his ''favourite'' rapper.

He added: ''She's one of my favourite rappers.''

Meanwhile, the 'Cold Water' hitmaker has claimed the music industry is making a U-turn and is veering towards a heightened interest in hip hop music.

Speaking previously, he said: ''I think people have moved on. They've moved on to hip-hop again.''

''Some of these [artists] are great that are part of [dance music] and make great music but for the most part you already see that it's in decline. There hasn't been a dance song on the radio except Calvin Harris and Rihanna this while year.''