What ‘Thunder Fire You’ Did For Me — Ric Hassani

Nigerian singer and songwriter, Ikechukwu Eric Ahiauzu, better known as Ric Hasssani has said that his recently banned song Thunder Fire You has become his most popular song.

Recall that the singer had announced last month that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) had banned the song and sanctioned radio stations that aired the track which is off his newly-released album, The Prince I Became.

But in an interview with The Cable, Hassani noted that Thunder Fire You has reached a wider audience than any of his previous songs due to the controversy it sparked. He also revealed that the he got a “sharp” response from people about the song which broke a record for him.

“For the first time in my career, the response I got from a song was sharp. Until now, it was never a case of ‘I like the song’ or ‘don’t like the song’. Feedback had always been vague and lukewarm, nothing solid,” he said.

“But then ‘Thunder Fire You’ really sparked a conversation. So, for the first time, it was either that you really liked it or you really hated it. I really love that. I feel like I needed this kind of record. I won’t say it’s a controversial song.

“It’s a song where you have the emotions coming so raw that it just sparks something in listeners, whether hate or love. It has really gone farther in Nigeria than any of my music ever has. None of my songs have gone that far here.”

While reacting to the ban on his song, the singer stated that the NBC took the decision because it misconceived the meaning of the song and saw it as a curse word.

Ric Hassani noted that it wasn’t a fair decision because Thunder Fire You was a common “slang” among Nigerians and have been used several times by singers.

He said: “I was with a friend of mine in Lagos Island. We stopped at this Ghana High Restaurant. When I stopped there, the woman said, ‘I love the song’. She was losing her mind over it. A lot of people just related to it, a thing that never happened to me before.

“I understand where NBC is coming from about the song. But the way I see that song is from a clever, sarcastic sense. It’s just making a song out of Thunder Fire You, a witty and dismissive slang Nigerians are familiar with. It’s a breakup song. Nobody had thought of doing that before or going that deep.

“But NBC saw it as a curse word. Everybody says ‘thunder fire you’. We’ve said it so much that it doesn’t carry weight anymore. It’s just like saying ‘you dey mad’. There have been songs that said this. But I understand their reason. I just don’t feel that was the correct way to look at it. I didn’t respond to the ban because it was not presented as a conversation.”

The Prince I Became is the singer’s follow up to his 2017 debut, African Gentleman which features Latin star Nicky Jam, Kenya’s Sauti Sol, and Ghana’s Kuami Eugene, among others.