Want to see how a legend organises music? In this free lesson from DJ Jazzy Jeff’s How To DJ Right (just one of the full suite of DJ and production courses you get with an All-Access Pass), Jeff opens up his Serato library and walks us through how he thinks about genres and styles – from his earliest days to now.
Watch the video to see Jeff’s actual folder structure and understand his philosophy, then use this guide to apply what you’ve learned to your own library.
How genres shaped early DJ culture
When Jeff started DJing, genres defined your identity. You were a house DJ, a hip-hop DJ, a soul DJ. That label told people what you played and where you belonged in DJ culture.
But while other DJs built rigid walls around genres, Jeff created bridges between them. That’s how he became the DJ who could play anything, anywhere – not by ignoring genres, but by understanding how they connect.
Today, Jeff’s music library reflects decades of that thinking. He’s got everything from his DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince catalogue to presidential party sets, all organised in folders that make sense for how he actually works. And crucially, he’s got a holding crate where completed sets live, so his active library stays clean.
That Christmas music folder? Only gets pulled out for a month, then back it goes. The presidential party? Lived at the top of the holding crate for about a year before being filed away. It’s practical organisation based on real DJ work, not theory.
Your genres, your rules
Jeff’s point isn’t that you should copy his folder structure – it’s that you need to develop your own system based on how you actually play music. The genres that matter to you might be completely different from what mattered to him in 1980s Philadelphia, and that’s exactly as it should be. Your genre organisation should reflect your DJ style and the music you actually play.
Read this next: What We Learned Living With DJ Jazzy Jeff For A Week
The real lesson here is about confidence. Jeff organised his music around what he knew worked together, not what some record shop categorisation system told him. As DJs, we need that same confidence to lead our audiences through music, not just follow whatever genre definitions currently exist.
Think about your last few DJ sets. What music did you actually play? What transitions worked brilliantly? Those natural connections between tracks – regardless of their official genres – that’s where your folder structure should come from.
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Next Steps
Look at how Jeff’s folders reflect actual DJ work (not genre theory), then apply it to your own library. Could a holding crate system help you stay organised? Would event-based folders work better than genre labels?
Jeff’s been doing this for 40+ years, and it shows. Your system doesn’t need to match his, but it should be just as practical for how you DJ.
This lesson is from DJ Jazzy Jeff’s How To DJ Right, just one of the full suite of DJ and production courses available to All-Access Pass members.
Phil Morse
