Mickey Hess, Is Hip-Hop Dead? The Past, Present and Future of America's Most Wanted Music (2007)
A pretty academic exploration that addresses the questions Biggie's career tends to raise, like authenticity and the rap persona, the corporatization of hip-hop, and the role of violence in the hip-hop world.
Touré, Never Drank the Kool-Aid: Essays (2006)
This Village Voice and New York Times hip-hop writer covered both Biggie and Tupac, and wrote some compelling essays about violence in hip-hop and the meaning of gangsta rap.
Voletta Wallace, Biggie: Voletta Wallace Remembers Her Son, Biggie (2005)
Wallace's memoir is a glossy take on Biggie's life. The mother's perspective can be tender, but leaves a lot of questions unanswered.