Sharply contrasting the melancholic R&B anthems that have chronicled Mary's personal and professional reality since 1992's What's the 411?, the urban icon has now returned to the edgy Hip Hop fusion she initially cultivated in the ghetto of Yonkers, New York. No More Drama is the follow-up to 1999's Grammy-nominated, platinum plus release, Mary, and the singer/songwriter is enthusiastic about her new, unexpected sound scheduled for release in late August.

"First of all, it's uplifting," she says. "It's gonna make you dance. You're gonna enjoy it. I'm rapping on it too. And I went back to the hood for that." Adding to the Dr. Dre-produced first single, "Family Affair," Drama's beats are courtesy of notables Missy Elliot, Swizz Beats, Rockwilder, The Neptunes, Chucky Thompson and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. And it features additional lyrical contributions from Eve, Missy, Grease, Hakeem and even Mary as a solitary poet on "Forever No More." "It's based on just where I am," she says. "You know, what's going on with me and what I'm dealing with in my life right now. What's the 411? was about being in love and being torn in it. Share My World was about trying to come out and figure out who I am and understand that certain things wasn't necessary. Mary was coming out and singing. And now we've got No More Drama."

Also now, for the first time in her career, Mary is celebrating her hard-earned petite physique, several new artistic ventures, and a spiritual rejuvenation that she testifies is the sole reason for her survival despite unyielding adversity. Formerly a self-confessed public-relations terror due to low self-esteem, various substance addictions, physical and emotional battery, and her inability to embrace sudden stardom, the 30 year-old diva is ready to testify. "I don't have nothing else that's more powerful or more stronger or that protects me more than loving God, praying and reading The Word," she says.

Another unquestionable source of strength is Mary's heightened self-confidence, allowing the previously timid musician to command R-E-S-P-E-C-T without compromise. It's an attitude she's acquired while ridding her life of negativity over the past few years. Although she doesn't direct her comments at particular individuals, her vagueness evokes thoughts of the people Mary once trusted: Andre Harrell, who signed her after hearing her mall-recorded karaoke version of "Caught Up in the Rapture" by Anita Baker; Sean, P. Diddy, Combs, her former manager, producer and A & R executive at Uptown Records; and abandoned romantic interest, K-Ci Hailey, the Jodeci crooner whose violent and degrading episodes apparently inspired much of Mary's music. Having moved on from the past, Mary has a new sense of herself.

"Respect me," she says. "I'm demanding respect, you know, just not in a negative way. It's like anything that's going to hurt me, or try to hurt me, or be detrimental to my health, is not going to be in my life. I'm in control of my emotions. I'm in control of destiny. I mean, I control this right now." Determined to continue taking charge of her fate, Mary further explains her current philosophy on achieving inner peace. Almost reluctant to share her knowledge for fear of being misunderstood and to avoid sounding preachy, Mary provides more trustworthy advice to the sisters who have always sought solace in her cathartic music.

"If you're looking for inner peace from the outside world, you're not going to get that," she says. "The inner peace starts with looking at you from the inside. Understanding that everything that comes to you is what you are. Everything from friends to boyfriends to the job you get - it's all a direct reflection of what you are on the inside."

Even after Mary's "Deep Inside" (featuring Sir Elton John), which followed nearly a decade of other soulful odes to amour, she surprisingly concedes she's only beginning to fully appreciate one of the most obvious facets of love. "I haven't always had this sense of love for myself," she says. "So it's kinda new to be able to say, 'I really care about you Mary'. I mean, loving Mary is different but I like it. It isn't always love for a man. You cannot get a man to love you or have love for him if you don't love you."

So what is love according Mary?

"Love is respect in a big way," she reasons. "Love is seeing yourself for who you are so you can fix yourself, so you can know how to treat and love other people. Love is just giving people space, giving them attention. Love is just accepting people." And Mary should know. She's currently a philanthropist for the often-shunned AIDS community in her capacity as a spokesperson for MAC's Viva Glam III lipstick, and she was additionally recognized for her humanitarian endeavors with the Rolling Stone Do Something Award. Truly empathetic to those damned by society, she reverts to personal experience.

"I'm not even ashamed of Mary anymore," she says speaking in the third person about her old persona. "I'm not ashamed of her drug addiction or her not finishing high school. I think that I had to live those situations to be able to tell a next generation, you know, not what not to do, but to give them an example of how it felt so they wouldn't want to do it."

Yet her hard-learned wisdom has fallen on many deaf ears. She refers generally to a young population of phony female vocalists making deliberate attempts at her throne by desperately appealing to the industry as victimized artists.

"A lot of people think that they'll come out and have an attitude and do stupid sh*t and be Mary J. Blige," she says. "You can't be the next Mary J. Blige if you haven't been through what Mary J. Blige's been through, my dear. You going to go get a back eye on purpose to write about a black eye? You gonna go get an abusive nigga, you gonna go use drugs on purpose so you gonna tell a story like Mary J. Blige? That's not what Mary J. Blige is about. Keep it gutta. Keep it real."

Conscious that one day a real, genuine talent will challenge her musical supremacy, Mary solemnly vows to reign the R&B world gratefully and preserve her legacy until just the right moment. "Yeah, I feel like when it's time to relax and say 'Thank God for the opportunity', there will be someone to pass my title on to," she says. "At sixty years old, after God has given me so much and so many fans, yeah, I'll let it go. Not at this very moment though. It's not going to happen! I love what I do. I love singing and I love my job."

Often compared to the woeful Billie Holiday (who, she admitted in a recent interview, she is currently in discussions to portray in an upcoming film) talk of longevity, passion for art, and heartfelt music inevitably leads to conversation about Mary's own regal predecessor with whom she belted the 70's classic "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man" on VH1's Divas Live.

"I don't think they call me our generation's Aretha Franklin cause I sound like Aretha," she says. "Because hell no, I can't sing like Aretha Franklin. But I think I mean to the world what Aretha meant to women going through pain."

With No More Drama, however, Mary's legendary authority on the down side of love and relationships might never be the same. Tight-lipped about her latest triumph - "a man that's very good to me" - she offers hope, rather than despair, that good things really do come to those who wait.

"Just hold on and have faith that you will come out," she says. "And believe that you will come out. Don't never get discouraged because the minute you get discouraged, you'll die in this sh*t." But she also advises against passivity. "If you really, really want certain things, if you really want to be happy, it's a choice," she says. "So it's about believing in something inside you that's positive." Closer to a spiritual utopia than she's ever been, Mary is finally realizing the fulfilling lyrics behind her anthology of international R&B hits, from "Real Love" in the early 90's to the current joyful message of No More Drama. Blessed with love for herself, God, and others, you have to wonder whether Mary has already achieved her goal in life. "I'm at the point where things look pretty good," she says. "I'm not where I used to be and I'm definitely not where I want to be. But I am happy where I'm at right now because I know I'm gonna get where I want to be."

•Mary's No More Drama is in stores now.