LL Cool J has hailed his time in the studio with 50 Cent as "inspiring" - despite scrapping all his recordings with the In Da Club hitmaker.The two rap greats teamed up in the studio last year to work on beats and rhymes for LL Cool J's new album, and the duo subsequently put the hip-hop world on notice.But, after months of working on tracks with 50 Cent, the rap veteran took only the best cuts and went solo - using the choice tunes on his latest LP Exit 13 and killing the rest.However, the star doesn't regret spending time in the studio with his younger rap rival - and insists working with 50 Cent made him "hungry" for hip-hop again.He says, "Working with 50 was inspiring. You have to realise I had no reason to be hungry. When you're the best at something for a long time, and you make albums in a couple months and they're still going gold or selling a million records... and you're making a living in films and stuff, it affects the music."But watching 50 crouch over that notebook and seeing him bounce back and forth in the studio, that inspired me and made me hungry again."

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