Sunday, Kobe Bryant went on “NBA Countdown” on ABC ahead of the Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder game, and it was ... well, it was a thing that happened. 

First of all, there was the fact that Kobe was sitting right next to Jalen Rose, which produced this incredible and uncomfortable looking moment. Kobe, of course, dropped 81 on Rose and the Raptors back in 2006, and Rose is notoriously not eager to be reminded of that fact. 

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Kobe hanging loose on the Countdown set. NBA Countdown on ABC

But that was just a minor detail. What we need to discuss is Kobe’s debut of Canvas City: Musecage. First, from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes, some background on the project:

The project would amount to the public’s first true glimpse of the ambitious storytelling to which Bryant aspires in his NBA afterlife, and as it kept venturing further beyond what he considered the sports genre’s rigid editorial confines, boiling its essence into layman’s terms became a chore.

Here he was bringing to life an idea that he had carried for three years, the concept of a personal cage filled with everything that drives anyone, good and bad -- light and dark muses, as he calls them. Yes, it was better for someone to see a glimpse of everything being developed in person, which is what Bryant relayed to Kevin Wildes, ESPN’s Vice President of Original Content, a few weeks prior to Sunday, when Bryant unveiled the finished product, a 10-minute video presentation titled “Canvas City: Musecage”, which aired during ABC’s NBA Countdown pregame show.

So in Canvas City, which seems to be a Sesame Street-like world, Kobe introduces us to his puppet snake friend, “Little Mamba,” and Muse Academy. I promise this is 100 percent real and absolutely not photoshopped. 

On Sunday’s show, Kobe and Little Mamba learned about a “musecage,” which Kobe explained was a room that’s decorated with “any and everything that inspires you.” There are two kind of musings, according to Kobe: light musings, which make you feel good, and dark musings, which make you feel bad. 

You honestly just need to watch it, because I don’t think you’ll believe me when I explain to you that Kobe -- one of the most ferocious athletes of his generation -- was having extended dialogue with a puppet snake about musings. Oh, and then there was a whole animated music video about a man who has a dark musecage, which certainly seemed to be alluding to Kobe, and was actually quite catchy. 

But there was more! It kept going! Little Mamba was singing the song. 

And then Little Mamba turned into a hybrid of Russell Westbrook and James Harden. 

What?

Wut?

Wat?

Whut?

Whet?

That ... was not what I expected from retired Kobe. But, I have to be honest, I’m a little bit intrigued about his next project.