ALICIA Keys knows how to hold her own. In 2004, rap's G-Unit posse got into a chair-throwing melee with some fans at Hot 97's Summer Jam right before Keys' scheduled performance. Ever poised, Keys simply took the stage after the scuffle, sat down behind her piano and captivated the audience. While promoting her first album, 2001's "Songs In A Minor," the classically trained pianist performed at a dingy club for a throng of Wu-Tang Clan fans and managed to win over the hardened hip-hoppers. "I love Wu-Tang, too; it was like very underground hip-hop," Keys said in a recent conference call. "And here I come with my piano, playing classical things on my piano. You'd be surprised just how open everybody was to that and how excited that made people. Then, after I played my little classical thing, I went into a little Mary J. Blige 'Real Love' and I did a Biggie (thing) . . . and they just had fun. They really lost it." Fans have continued to lose it for the Harlem native, who brings her fusion of the classic and contemporary to the TD Banknorth Garden on Wednesday in support of her latest album, "As I Am," a No. 1 phenomenon that has defied an industry-wide sales slump to gotriple platinum. Even Bob Dylan gave props to the 27-year-old r & b/soul songstress - who has scored 11 Grammys and sold more than 25 million records worldwide - in the title track of his album "Modern Times." "I was thinking about Alicia Keys," Dylan sings, "couldn't help from crying/When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line/I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be/I been looking for her even clean through Tennessee." Keys calls going down in Dylan's songbook "kind of hot." Then again, it's kind of refreshing that a modern artist has an appeal that spans genres and generations. Keys seems to have mastered the balancing act - not just in her music, but in her private life as well. You won't find photos of a drunk, sweaty Keys clinging to some unknown male companion surfacing on a gossip Web site anytime soon; she prefers to keep things classy and discreet.         - Bostan Herald "I've never been the one that kind of goes to the 'it' places and does the 'it' things, and goes to the 'it' restaurant and goes to the 'it' club," she said. "That's not really my thing. I like more off-the-beaten-path kind of things. "And I travel very, very low-key, and I like it like that. I'm not going to pull up in a Rolls Royce and have, like, 17 people hop out of the car with me and necklaces dripping. I mean, that's not really my thing. So, since I roll kind of quiet, then it kind of stays quiet, and I like it." If anything, Keys is more likely to be talked about for her charity efforts than her late-night escapades. As a spokesperson for Keep A Child Alive, a response to the AIDS pandemic in Africa, she recently documented her trip to the continent in "Alicia in Africa: Journey to the Motherland," available at aliciainafrica.com. A vocal artist willing to talk about more than what color lipstick she likes to wear, Keys realized the double-edged sword of self-expression after Blender magazine quoted her as saying gangsta rap was a government ploy to kill black people. Keys says her remarks were misinterpreted - but that hasn't thrown her off her game. "I saw first-hand that even as positive of a person as I am, there's so many times when you have conversations or you'll explain a thought that you're having, and it totally gets misinterpreted and then sensationalized, and it's totally inaccurate," she said. "But after that, I just decided to really keep it positive. I do so many positive things and that's how I live my life. I'd much rather say all the good works that I do, and the way that I am focused and dedicated on uplifting and helping people. I'd much prefer to talk about those great things."  - Bostan Herald