She made her first record in 1952, a three-track on Pathé Records under the name "Cheikha Remettez Reliziana", which included the famous "Er-Raï Er-Raï". This was not to be the record that launched her career, however. That came two years later when Rimitti caused a sensation with the release of "Charrak Gattà" a daring hit record, which encouraged young women to lose their virginity and which scandalised Muslim orthodoxy. Her outlook and songs did not endear her to the nationalist forces fighting for freedom from French rule during the Algerian War of Independence who denounced her for singing "folklore perverted by colonialism".