AceShowbiz - Diplo has credited queer artists for the evolution of music in recent history.

The DJ and producer, 41, spoke with British LGBTQ+ publication Attitude, where he praised the "fearlessness" of queer artists who have "changed the way music exists." 

"The original guys who were creating hip-hop were queer. House music, Baltimore Club, New Orleans bounce music - every time there's a genre that falls out of nothing, it's always been kind of like the queer scene that created that," he said.

The star, real name Thomas Wesley Pentz, continued, "It's always been in the underground. It's like Vogue that Madonna put out, and she's always shown respect and love, but it's always been the queer community who have to scratch it out of nothing." 

"I think that's back to the fearlessness because when you have that energy - the masculine energy, the feminine - you're taking all the risks because there's nothing to lose," the Major Lazer star mused. "I think it might be challenging for some straight men, but for queer artists it's kind of second nature. They're able to go wherever they want and, like I said, there's no walls."

Diplo appears on the cover of the May edition of the publication with pal and country music star Orville Peck.