Foxy Brown, sentenced to probation and anger management classes for a fight in a nail salon, left court smiling Wednesday after hearing "an excellent report from probation."

Brown, 26, said the sentence has been good for her "because probation forces you into structure. It is making me grow up. I have matured a lot since I started the anger management."

Accompanied by her lawyer, state Sen. John Sampson, Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, had a good word for Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson. The rap princess had several hostile exchanges with Jackson before the judge sentenced her to three years' probation and anger management classes.

"This is only the first time in two years that I'm pleased with Judge Jackson," said Brown, wearing a tan plaid skirt and purple blouse, as she climbed into a large sport utility vehicle. "She got an excellent report from probation."

Sampson said the judge told Brown to return to court March 15.

Jackson sentenced Brown in October after the rapper pleaded guilty in August to misdemeanor assault charges. Brown was accused of kicking one employee and smacking a second in the face on Aug. 29, 2004, in an argument over payment for a manicure at Bloomie Nails in Manhattan's Chelsea area.

At her last court appearance on Dec. 11, a lawyer for the city Department of Probation accused Brown of "flouting the court-ordered conditions of her probation." The lawyer, Shawn da Weinberg, said Brown was asking for special treatment.

Weinberg suggested to Jackson that Brown might benefit from time in jail, but the judge let the rapper go with a warning to follow probation officials' orders.