Not since the day that George Martin was proclaimed the "5^th Beatle" has there been such controversy over who could be crowned an honorary member of a band. The controversy today could be the question: "Who is the fourth Beastie Boy?" Obvious consideration goes out to Kate Schellenbach and Rick Rubin for their contributions on the band's early work, but with the next generation of Beastie Boys' releases one has to include Money Mark and Mario Caldato Jr. into the mix (not to mention that this argument would be moot without adding names like Biz Markie and Ricky Powell into the candidate pool). That leaves us with six names on the ballot from which to choose only one to be called "The Fourth Beastie." However it was once pointed out by fellow Beastie Boys collector, Dustin Harjo, that one name in particular is often forgotten in this discussion, Miho Hartori of Cibo Matto.

Miho has appeared on the following Beastie Boys songs: "Twenty Questions", "I Don't Know", "Hail Sagan", "Start" and their cover of the Doors' "Light My Fire". Miho and Mike D also teamed up on the Handsome Boy Modeling School song "Metaphysical ( A Good Day)." Adrock even played bass for a few early Cibo Matto shows in '96. When not working with the Beastie Boys, Miho has a full time job performing in Cibo Matto.

Miho came to the United States in the early 1990's. Back in Japan she had been part of the Tokyo rap unit Kimidori and a former club DJ. Both these previous work experiences would come in handy down the road when Miho would meet up with Sean Lennon's long time love interest Yuka Honda. After meeting in 1994, Miho and Yuka first teamed up under the name Leitoh Lychee (translated as "frozen lychee nut"). After that group didn't work out, Miho and Yuka formed Cibo Matto, which means "food madness" in Italian. In 1995 they put out two indie singles, "Birthday Cake" and "Know Your Chicken." It should be noted that in the video for "Know Your Chicken," Hillary Snyder used the same electric power lines as props that he would later re-use in the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" video.

Shortly afterwards in 1996, Cibo Matto was signed to the Warner Brothers record label and released Viva! La Woman. Also in 1996, Miho would team with Yuka Honda, Russell Simins, Rick Lee and graphic designer Mike Mills under the band name Butter 08. As one story goes, the group was the product of a drunken evening spent producing the Cibo Matto single "Know Your Chicken." The resultant demo of "Know Your Chicken" was passed by Simins to Mike D, who immediately signed Butter 08 to the Grand Royal Records label. In 1997, the Cibo Matto EP Super Relax followed and then in 1999 the full length Cibo Matto Stereotype A hit store shelves. More recently, Miho contributed the successful Gorillaz super-group with their 2001 self-titled release.