Travis Scott has praised M.I.A. in a new interview, calling her “the illest of all time”.

The two artists and Young Thug teamed up on Scott’s new single ‘Franchise’, which was released earlier today (September 25).

Scott appeared on Zane Lowe’s New Music Daily show on Apple Music to discuss the track, and spoke about how he came to work with M.I.A. “She reached out to me for something for her album and we tracked it in London,” he explained.

“She’s just one of my favourite artists as humans. So it was just amazing. When I finished [‘Franchise’], I couldn’t think of nobody else that could probably just body this shit. You know what I’m saying? Body this shit like as hard as like anyone else, any other rapper, any other artist.”

He continued to say the music world hadn’t “felt this presence in a long time”.

“I’m just trying to get this gig shit right, man,” he said. “We got to get better, right? You know what I’m saying? Like all of this, the energy man – music, beats, raps, God! Everything, she’s the illest of all time.”

Scott also recalled the first time he saw M.I.A. “It was crazy,” he said. “It was just one of the most visual human beings I’ve ever seen. I think I’ve seen a video of her in Lower East Side of New York or Soho, just doing some video or some shit. Man, raps are just fire. The beats is crazy.”

A video for ‘Franchise’ was released alongside the track, which was directed by Scott. The artwork for the single, meanwhile, was created by George Condo – the contemporary artist behind the cover art for Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’.