Rachid Baba Ahmed (Arabic: رشيد بابا أحمد; 20 August 1946–15 February 1995) was an Algerian record producer, composer, and singer involved in the regional genre known as raï.

[1] He was credited with the international popularization of the genre in 1976, through the new pop raï, with a delicate and sophisticated blend of electronic instrumentation.

He was quoted as saying, with regards to censoring the lyrics to the songs on the albums in order to make them appropriate for observant Islamic audiences, "In the beginning, I let [a] cheb sing the words as he wanted.

[3] During the Algerian Civil War, he was murdered by Islamic fundamentalists on February 15, 1995, outside of his record store in Oran, Algeria.

[4] He had been a long-standing target for the Islamic movements because of his involvement in the production of songs with themes of romance and everyday living.