How Nigerian Fans and Media Created the Nude Maheeda

Nigerian Fans and Media vs Nigerian Singer and Dancer Maheeda

I “officially” met Maheeda during my birthday celebration in 2010. I had hosted a concert type party and she was introduced to me as an artist who wanted to perform. She came in full gear and looked to have her act together. I thought that was impressive so I gave the go ahead  to perform. After her set was done, let me just say she was one of the best performers that night. She had the crowd wow-ing! What a lot of people do not know is that Maheeda is a fine dancer and a great performer who started out as a dancer who then dabbled in Music. At the bottom of this article, I will share one of her earlier music videos with you. You can see from it how serious she took her craft back then. 

Personally I think dancing is where her talent is. Before I continue let me say this, this article was not created to apportion blame. The purpose is to shed light on a certain trend that is common place in Entertainment in Nigeria. I fully understand that Maheeda is an adult who makes her own decisions good or bad. I will be writing this not from a moral perspective but from an entertainment angle. I am also not here for the around the world comparison. We are here to discuss Nigerian Entertainment, not Indian Fish or American Gala. I am also not here for the this is too long to read types – reading is essential if you do not want to be sold beans for the price of diamonds. Now that that is out-of-the-way for the critics, let me continue.

As I was saying, I kept up with Maheeda because like I said, I felt she was a great performer. I would wait around to watch her perform if she was on a bill. The last I saw her was at a City People Entertainment awards show.  She came dressed in black and ready to put on a great show. We said our hi’s and I hung around till dark to catch her on stage.

Later on, I heard she moved back to Holland and switched to gospel music. I am not sure which one came first but all the same I was happy for her. I wasn’t sure how she would fuse all the dancing skills she had acquired with gospel but I understand what it is to follow your heart so I had no complains.

From her great on stage presence, to her attempt at gospel music, she kept getting ignored by most major blogs and a lot entertainment fans that give her attention now. Let me add one little tid-bit here, I personally think the Nigerian Media are a part of a major problem. The inability of some to balance entertainment reporting is appalling. The media pretty much controls “for the most part” what the consumer sees and appreciates. As far as online media and its viral nature goes, the blogs most especially do a great disservice to the industry because for some reason, they wont pick up your story unless you are already popular, it is bad news or it is controversial. Note I said some…. not all. But generally, this is the norm.

So you wonder, how does someone who is out there busting their behind working hard and is good at their craft stay off the major blogs and only get recognition when they post nude photos? The media and fan reception that’s how. I always say, if you wont report the good about me, please lay off the negative. If you can’t balance stories about someone, it’s better you take your hands off all together.

Somehow the shocking things are reported with over zealousness while the positive ones get a lukewarm reception. Some may argue that this is common place all over the world. For the sake of arguments lets first worry about how this trend affects OUR entertainment industry and how our entertainers are showcased to their fans and possibly the rest of the world.

I also feel the fans are equally as guilty. The media will argue that they post shocking stories because that is what the fans want. This is true to a certain extent. I know firsthand most will scroll past a story if it does not have shock value then later on complain that the person is seeking attention. My question is, who gave the attention though? YOU did! So before you chastise Maheeda or anyone else that is in the news for drastic reasons, ask yourself if you are part of the problem.

Back to the pretty young lady called Maheeda. Like I said she started out as a singer-dancer, went on to gospel music and then one day, just like that, it happened! She slowly began to expose herself. I say slowly because it escalated from maybe a sneak peek of a bikini clad backside to a full on nude show. It was at this point she began to get loads of attention. All the major blogs that were ignoring how talented a dancer she was began to post about her. They posted about her constantly. At some point a week would not go by without you seeing a Maheeda nude post and the more they talked, the more she indulged them. I ask myself if they had posted about her skills with the same zealousness would she have focused more on that?

The problem was they were not talking about her craft, they were talking about her women parts being splashed on the internet. When she first started I reached out to her to somewhat understand her decison and also to have people see that she is more than all these nudes you are seeing. We did an exclusive interview for my podcast (you can listen to it here). What I did not bargain was how far she would go later down the line. I still think she is a very sweet person who figured the best way to get in that spotlight was by giving the audience what they obviously wanted. It has worked for her because her followers shot up by over 1000%.-etisalat:026142575624595 They say, don’t hate the playa, hate the game.

If you ask the average Nigerian who Maheeda is, you will probably be met with the response” the girl who posts nude” and this to me is sad because that is not just who she is. She is a talented dancer who can give Kaffy a run for her money. Unfortunately, the un-looking game of those that should have noticed and the over zealousness at which they reported her nudes may not let everyone see that now.

What is sad about Maheeda vs entertainment fans and media is that it took her posting nudes to get noticed by majority of people. Her talent which I think is in dancing was just not enough. This to me is a problem. When an entire group of people ignore you till you do something drastic, then maybe, just maybe, it will influence a culture of young people doing drastic things just to get heard.

As for me, I want to see Maheeda dance more. Not the raunchy stuff, I want to see her and her dancers do dance sets to some of the most popular songs out there. I want to search her name on youtube and find countless videos of her showing her true skills. I believe in her talent as a dancer and I hope it is not too late for her to revisit it. I am sharing a video to one her song Oko Yanpia – This video was shot pre what we see of her today and as you can see she kept her wardrobe appropriate and she can dance!

Maheeda- Oko Yanpia Video