"I didn't know no better," Faith says of her past years in the spotlight. "I thought it was somebody else's job to take care of me every day. At this point I don't really depend on that no more. I got the right person on my team." [RealVideo]

As luck would have it, Faith's Mr. Right is her husband, Todd Russaw. The pair not only co-executive produced Faithfully with P. Diddy, but also own Pedigree Entertainment, which manages Faith's career, former 702 singer Kameelah, writers, producers and a video director.

"My husband definitely helps me make better decisions," she says, almost having to shout above the music playing in the background. "Whether it be from clothing to video treatments to types of songs, who I'm gonna work with production-wise, working out, everything. He's got an opinion about every single aspect, so that helps."

When it came time to renegotiate with Combs' Bad Boy label earlier this year, Faith decided to stay. It almost didn't turn out that way.

"There was a time when I really didn't feel like I had a place," she says, "and that was maybe more so because of the sensationalism [surrounding Bad Boy]. Things got lost.

"I felt like I was a team player, a very big part of the foundation of this empire," she explains. "I wouldn't say it was all financial or all personal. It was a combination of a lot of things. But I just wanted to make sure that it's recognized, like, 'Look, you know what I mean [to Bad Boy]. Make me feel important, then.' " [RealAudio]

Faith's decision to stay happened "once I broke everything down and separated personal from business," she says. "Moving forward as a businesswoman, I felt personal stuff is personal. I don't have to go home with [Combs] like Kobe [Bryant] don't gotta go home with Phil [Jackson]."

If rumor has its way, Faith may still be forced to sever ties with Bad Boy. Word is circulating that Combs is either selling Bad Boy altogether or taking Bad Boy from its current distributor, Arista, and going to Columbia Records with a handful of his current roster. That handful is said to not include Faith.

"I haven't really gotten to dealing with those issues yet," she says. "It's hard to comment too much on it, 'cause I haven't officially sat down with anybody to be told this. I've heard it just like everybody else.

"Honestly, I feel at this point like [Combs] would definitely still be a very, very big part of my career, nonetheless. I'm sure that it would be worked out that way. I'm part of that family. That's who I'm with. That's who I'm down with."

Five hours later, it's apparent that Diddy knows how much Faith means to the Bad Boy team. "She's getting better on her third album," he tells the crowd as he introduces her.

Faith enters, showboating her reaffirmed allegiance to her musical fam in a red, short-sleeved shirt reading "Bad Girl" in red letters. She starts her set with "Alone in This World," which samples "Who Shot Ya?" by her late husband, the Notorious B.I.G. Throughout Faithfully, Faith pays homage to Big by not only sampling his music, but also rehashing some of his rhymes. Faith says their son, five-year-old Christopher Jr., is already showing some of his dad's traits.

"They all can sing," Faith says of her three children, which include Chyna, 7, and Joshua, 3. "C.J. [Christopher Jr.] can rhyme, of course. C.J. can rhyme for real, for real. You could tell he's B.I.G.'s kid. He likes Snoop and Jay-Z. But he'll know a verse, not just the hook. He'll be knowing the words and I'm like, 'Huh?' He knows the parts that I really don't know."